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OF 



PATRICK HENRY. 



BY 



WILLIAM WIRT, 

M 

OF RICHMOND, VIRGINIA. 



SECOND EDITION, CORRECTED BY THE AUTHOR. 



" In quo hoc maximum est, quod neque ante ilium, quern ille imitaretur, 
neque post ilium, qui eum imitari posset, inventus est." 

Paterc. lib. i. cap. v. 



PHILADELPHIA: 



PUBLISHED BY JAMES WEBSTER, No. 10, S. EIGHTH STREET. 
William Brown, Printer, Prune-street. 

1818. 



District of Pennsylvania, to -wit .- 

BE IT REMEMBERED, That, on the twenty-first day of March, in the forty- 
second year of the Independence of the United States of America, A. D. 1818, 
James Webster, of the said District, hath deposited in this office the title of a 
book, the right whereof he claims as proprietor, in the words following", to wit: 

" Sketches of the Life and Character of Patrick Henry. By William Wirt, of 
" Richmond, Virginia. Second edition, corrected by the Author. In quo 
" hoc maximum est, quod neque ante ilium, quern ille imitaretur, neque 
" post ilium, qui eum imitari posset, inventus est. Paterc. lib. i. cap. v." 

In conformity to the act of the Congress of the United States, entitled " An 
act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, 
and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times 
therein mentioned." — And also to the act, entitled " An act supplementary to 
an act, entitled ' An.act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the 
copies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such 
copies, during imes therein mentioned,' and extending the benefits 

thereof to the arts of designing, engraving, and etching historical and other 
prints." 

D. CALDWELL, 
Clerk of the district of Pennsylvania. 



TO 

THE YOUNG MEN OF VIRGINIA. 
THIS WORK 

IS RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED, 

BY 

M , THE AUTHOR. 



PREFACE. 

The reader has a right to know what degree of 
credit is due to the following narrative ; and it is the 
object of this preface to give him that satisfaction. 

It was in the summer of 1805 that the design of writing 
this biography was first conceived. It was produced by 
an incident of feeling, which, however it affected the 
author at the time, might now be thought light and 
trivial by the reader ; and he shall not, therefore, be 
detained by the recital of it. The author knew nothing 
of Mr. Henry, personally. He had never seen him ; 
and was of course compelled to rely wholly on the 
information of others. As soon, therefore, as the design 
was formed of writing his life, aware of the necessity of 
losing no time in collecting, from the few remaining co- 
evals of Mr Henry, that personal knowledge of the 
subject which might erelong be expected to die with 
them, the author despatched letters to every quarter of 
the state in which it occurred to him as probable that 
interesting matter might be found ; and he was gratified 
by the prompt attention which was paid to his enquiries. 



VI PREFACE. 

There were at that time, living in tiie county of Ha- 
nover, three gentlemen of the first respectability, who 
had been the companions of Mr. Henry's childhood and 
youth : these were, Col. Charles Dabney, Capt. George 
Dabney, and Col. William 0. Winston ; the two first of 
whom are still living. Not having the pleasure of a 
personal acquaintance with these gentlemen, the author 
interested the late Mr. Nathaniel Pope in his object, 
and, by his instrumentality, procured all the useful in- 
formation which was in their possession. Mr. Pope is 
well known to have been a gentleman of uncommonly 
vigorous and discriminating mind ; a sacred observer of 
truth, and a man of the purest sense of honour. The 
author cannot recall the memory of this most amiable 
and excellent man, to whom (if there be any merit in 
this work) the friends of Mr. Henry and the state of Vir- 
ginia owe so many obligations, without paying to that 
revered memory the tribute of his respect and affection. 
Mr. Pope was one of those ardent young Virginians, 
who embarked before they had attained their maturity, in 
the cause of the American revolution : he joined an ani- 
mated and active corps of horse, and signalized himself 
by an impetuous gallantry, which drew upon him the 
eyes and the applause of his commander. In peace, he 
was as mild as he had been brave in war ; his bosom 



PREFACE. VII 

was replete with the kindest affections ; he was, in 
truth, one of the best of companions, and one, of the 
warmest of friends. The fact that he was the acknow- 
ledged head of the several bars at which he practised 
in the country, may assure the reader of his capacity 
for the commission which he so cheerfully undertook, in 
regard to Mr. Henry ; and the unblemished integrity of 
his life may assure him also of the fidelity with which 
that commission was executed. So many important 
anecdotes in the following work depend on the credit 
of this gentleman as a witness, that the slight sketch 
which has been given of his character will not, it is 
hoped, be thought foreign to the purpose of this pre- 
face. Mr. Pope did not confine his enquiries to the 
county of Hanover : he was indefatigable in collecting 
information from every quarter ; which he never ac- 
cepted, however, but from the purest sources ; and his 
authority for every incident was given with the most 
scrupulous accuracy. The author had hoped to have 
had it in his power to gratify this gentleman by sub- 
mitting to his view the joint result of their labours, and 
obtaining the benefit of his last corrections ; but he was 
disappointed by his untimely and melancholy death. 
He fell a victim to that savage practice, which, under 
the false name of honour, continued to prevail too 



Vlll PREFACE. 

long ; and his death is believed to have been highly 
instrumental in hastening that system of legislation in 
restraint of this practice which now exists in Virginia. 

Besides the contributions furnished by Mr. Pope, the 
writer derived material aid from various other quarters. 
The widow of Mr. Henry was still living, and had 
intermarried with judge Winston : from this gentleman 
(who was also related to Mr. Henry by blood, and had 
been intimately acquainted with him through the far 
greater part of his life) the author received a succinct, 
but extremely accurate and comprehensive memoir. 

Col. Meredith of Amherst was a few years older 
than Mr. Henry, had been raised in the same neigh- 
bourhood, and had finally married one of his sisters. 
Having known Mr. Henry from his birth to his death, 
he had it in his power to supply very copious details, 
which were taken down from his narration by the 
present judge Cabell, and forwarded to the author. 

One of the most intimate and confidential friends of 
Mr. Henry was the late judge Tyler. The judge had 
a kind of Roman frankness and even bluntness in his 
manners, together with a decision of character and a 
benevolence of spirit, which had attached Mr. Henry to 
him, from his first appearance on the public stage. 
They were, for a long time, members of the house of 



PREFACE. IX 

delegates together, and their friendship continued until 
it was severed by death. From judge Tyler the au- 
thor received a very minute and interesting communica- 
tion of incidents, the whole of which had either passed 
in his own presence, or had been related to him by Mr. 
Henry himself. 

The writer is indebted to judge Tucker for two or 
three of his best incidents ; one of them will probably 
be pronounced the most interesting passage of the work. 
He owes to the same gentleman, too, the fullest and live- 
liest description of the person of Mr Henry, which has 
been furnished from any quarter : and he stands farther 
indebted to him for a rare and (to the purpose of this 
work) a very important book — the journals of the house 
of burgesses for the years 1763-4-5-6 and 7. 

From judge Roane the author has received one of the 
fairest and most satisfactory communications that has 
been made to him ; and the vigour and elegance with 
which that gentleman writes, has frequently enabled 
the author to relieve the dulness of his own narrative, 
by extracts from his statements. 

Mr. Jefferson, too, has exercised his well known 
kindness and candour on this occasion ; having not only 
favoured the author with a very full communication in 
the first instance ; but assisted him, subsequently and 



X PREFACE. 

repeatedly, with his ahle counsel, in reconciling apparent 
contradictions, and clearing away difficulties of fact. 

Besides these statements, drawn from the memory of 
his correspondents, the writer was favoured hy the late 
governor Page, with the reading of a pretty extended 
sketch which he had, himself, prepared of the life of 
Mr. Henry : and he has, furthermore, availed himself 
of the kind permission of Mr. Peyton Randolph, to 
examine an extremely valuable manuscript history of 
Virginia, written hy his father, the late Mr. Edmund 
Randolph ; which embraces the whole period of Mr. 
Henry's public life. 

In addition to these stores of information, the author 
has had the good fortune to procure complete files of the 
public newspapers, reaching from the year 1765 down 
to the close of the American revolution ; by these he 
has been enabled to correct, in some important instances, 
the memory of his correspondents, in relation not only 
to dates, but to facts themselves. 

He has been fortunate, too, in having procured seve- 
ral original letters which shed much light on important 
and hitherto disputed facts, in the life of Mr. Henry. 

The records of the general court, and the archives of 
the state having been convenient to the author, and 
always open to him, he has endeavoured assiduously 



PREFACE. XI 

aud carefully, to avail himself of that certain and 
permanent evidence which they afford ; and has been 
enabled, by this means, as the reader will discover, to 
correct some strange mistakes in historical facts. 

The author's correspondents will find, that he has 
departed, in some instances, from their respective state- 
ments ; and he owes them an explanation for having 
done so : the explanation is this ; their statements were, 
in several instances, diametrically opposed to each 
other ; and were sometimes all contradicted by the 
public prints, or the records of the state. It ought not 
to be matter of surprise that these contradictions should 
exist, even among those most respectable gentlemen, 
relying, as they did, upon human memory merely; and 
speaking of events so very remote, without a previous 
opportunity of communicating with each other. It 
will be seen by them, that the author has been obliged, 
in several instances, to contradict even the several his- 
tories of the times, concerning which he writes : but this 
he has never done, without the most decisive proofs of 
his own correctness, which he has always cited ; nor has 
he ever departed from the narratives of his several cor- 
respondents, except under the direction of preponderat- 
ing evidence. As among those contradictory statements, 
all could not be true, he has sought the correction by 



XU PREFACE. 

public documents, when such correction was attainable ; 
and when it was not, he has selected among his nar- 
rators, those, whose opportunities to know the fact in 
question seemed to be the best. This he has done, 
without the slightest intention to throw a shadow of sus- 
picion on the credit of any gentleman who has been so 
obliging as to answer his enquiries ; but merely from the 
necessity which he was under, either of making some- 
selection, or abandoning the work altogether ; and be- 
cause he knew of no better rule of selection, than that 
which he has adopted. 

Although it has been so long since the collection of 
these materials was begun, it was not until the summer 
of 1814 that the last communication was received. Even 
then, when the author sat down to the task of embody- 
ing his materials, there were o many intricacies to dis- 
entangle, and so many inconsistencies, from time to time, 
to explain and settle, and that too, through the tedious 
agency of cross -mails, that his progress was continually 
impeded, and has been, to him, most painfully retarded. 

Other causes, too, have contributed to delay the pub- 
lication. The author is a practising lawyer ; and the 
courts which he attends, keep him perpetually and ex- 
clusively occupied in that attendance, through ten 
months of the year : nor does the summer recess of 



PREFACE. Xlll 

two months afford a remission from professional la- 
Lour. In Virginia, the duties of attorney, counsellor, 
conveyancer, and advocate, are all performed by the 
same individual ; hence the summer vacation, instead of 
feeing a time of leisure, is not only the season of prepa- 
ration for the approaching courts, but is subject, more- 
over, to a perpetual recurrence of what are here called 
office duties, which renders a steady application to any 
other subject impossible. 

These sketches are now submitted to the public, 
with unaffected diffidence ; not of the facts which they 
detail, for on them the author has the firmest reliance ; 
but of the manner in which he has been able to accom- 
plish his undertaking. For (to say nothing of his inex- 
perience and want of ability for such a work) he has 
been compelled to write (when he was suffered to write 
at all) amidst that incessant professional annoyance 
which has been mentioned, and which is known by 
every man who has ever made the trial, to forbid the 
hope of success in any composition of this extent. Could 
the writer have looked forward, with any reasonable 
calculation, to a period of greater ease, his respect for 
the memory of Mr. Henry, as well as his regard for 
himself, would have induced him to suspend this under- 
taking until that period should have arrived. But 



XIV PREFACE. 

having no ground for any hope of this kind, he has 
thought it better to hazard even these crude sketches, 
than to suffer the materials which he had accumulated 
with so much toil, and for an object which he thought so 
laudable, to perish on his hands. 

These remarks are not made with the view of depre- 
cating the censures of critics by profession ; but merely 
to bespeak the candour of that larger portion of readers 
who are willing to be pleased witli the best efforts that 
can be reasonably expected, from the circumstances of 
the case. The author, however, is well satisfied, that 
the most indulgent reader (although benevolently dis- 
posed to overlook defects of execution) will be certaiuly 
disappointed in the matter itself of this work ; for, not- 
withstanding all his exertions, he is entirely conscious 
that the materials which he has been able to collect are 
scanty and meagre, and utterly disproportionate to the 
great fame of Mr. Henry. It is probable that much of 
what was once known of him had perished before the 
author commenced his researches; and it is very possible 
that much may still be known, which he has not been 
able to discover ; because it lies in unsuspected sources, 
or with persons unwilling, for some reason or other, to 
communicate their information. It is the conviction that 
he has not been able to inform himself of the whole 



PREFACE. XV 

events of Mr. Henry's life, and that his collection can 
be considered only as so many detached sketches, 
which has induced him to prefix this name to his book. 
If, in this humble and unassuming character, it shall give 
any pleasure to the numerous admirers of Mr. Henry, 
in Virginia, the author will have attained all that he has 
a right to expect. 

RICHMOND, Virginia, } 
Sept. 5th, 1817. 5 



SKETCHES 



OF THE 



LIFE OF PATRICK HENRY. 



SECTION I. 



PATRICK HENRY, the second son of John and 
Sarah Henry, and one of nine children, was born on the 
29th of May 1736, at the family seat, called Studley, in 
the county of Hanover and colony of Virginia. In his 
early childhood, his parents removed to another seat in 
the same county, then called Mount Brilliant, now the 
Retreat; at which latter place, Patrick Henry was raised 
and educated. His parents, though not rich, were in 
easy circumstances; and, in point of personal character, 
were among the most respectable inhabitants of the 
colony. 

His father, Col. John Henry, was a native of Aberdeen 
in Scotland. He was, it is said, a first cousin to David 
Henry, who was the brother-in-law and successor of 
Edward Cave, in the publication of that celebrated work, 
The Gentleman's Magazine, and, himself, the author of 
several literary tracts: John Henry, is also said to have 
been a nephew, in the maternal line, to the great histo- 
rian Dr. William Robertson. He came over to Virginia, 
in quest of fortune, some time prior to the year 1730, and 

A 



SKETCHES OF THE 



the tradition is, that he enjoyed the friendship and patron- 
age of Mr. Dinwiddie, afterwards the governor of the 
colony. By this gentleman, it is reported, that he was 
introduced to the elder Col. Syme of Hanover, in whose 
family, it is certain, that he became domesticated dur- 
ing the life of that gentleman, after whose death he 
intermarried with his widow, and resided on the estate 
which he had left. It is considered as a fair proof of the 
personal merit of Mr. John Henry, that, in those days, 
when offices were bestowed with peculiar caution, he 
was the colonel of his regiment, the principal surveyor of 
the county, and for many years, the presiding magistrate 
of the county court. His surviving acquaintances con- 
cur in stating, that he was a man of liberal education ; 
that he possessed a plain, yet solid understanding; and liv- 
ed long a life of the most irreproachable integrity, and ex- 
emplary piety. His brother Patrick, a clergyman of the 
church of England, followed- him to this country some 
years afterwards; and became, by his influence, the minis- 
ter of St. Paul's parish in Hanover, the functions of which 
office he sustained throughout life with great respecta- 
bility. Both the brothers were zealous members of the 
established church, and warmly attached to the reigning 
family. Col. John Henry was conspicuously so: " there, 
are those yet alive," says a correspondent,* " who have 
seen him at the head of his regiment, celebrating the 
birth-day of George tlie HI. with as much enthusiasm, 
as his son Patrick, afterwards, displayed, in resisting 
the encroachments of that monarch."! 

Mrs. Henry, the widow of Col. Syme, as we have seen. 



* Mr. Pope, in 1805. 

f Mr. Bulk's account of Mr. Henry is extremely careless and full of er- 
rors. He begins by making him the son of his uncle : " Patrick Henry, the 
son of a Scotch gentleman of the same name, &c." 3d vol. of the History of 
Virginia, page 300. 



LIFE OF HENRV. i 

and the mother of Patrick Henry, was a native of Ha- 
nover county, and of the family of Winstons. She pos- 
sessed, in an eminent degree, the mild and benevolent 
disposition, the undeviating probity, the correct under- 
standing and easy elocution by which that ancient family 
has been so long distinguished. Her brother William, 
the father of the present judge Winston, is said to have 
been highly endowed with that peculiar cast of elo- 
quence, for which Mr. Henry became, afterwards, so 
justly celebrated. Of this gentleman I have an anec- 
dote from a correspondent,* which I shall give in his 
own words. " I have often heard my father, who was 
intimately acquainted with this William Winston, say, 
that he was the greatest orator whom he ever heard, 
Patrick Henry excepted; that during the last French and 
Indian war, and soon after Braddock's defeat, when the 
militia were marched to the frontiers of Virginia, against 
the enemy, this William Winston was the lieutenant of a 
company; that the men, who were indifferently clothed, 
without tents, and exposed to the rigour and inclemency of 
the weather, discovered great aversion to the service, and 
were anxious and even clamorous to return to their fami- 
lies; when this William Winston, mounting a stump, (the 
common rostrum, you know, of the field orator of Virgi- 
nia,) addressed them with such keenness of invective, and 
declaimed with such force of eloquence, on liberty and 
patriotism, that when he concluded, the general cry was, 
'let us march on; lead us against the enemy;' and they 
were now willing, nay anxious to encounter all those dif- 
ficulties and dangers, which, but a few moments before, 
had almost produced a mutiny." 

Thus much I have been able to collect of the parent- 

* Mr. Pope. 



4 SKETCHES OF THE 

age and family of Mr. Henry; and this, I presume, will 
be thought quite sufficient, in relation to a man,, who 
owed no part of his greatness to the lustre of his pedi- 
gree, but was, in truth, the sole founder of his own 
fortunes. 

Until ten years of age, Patrick Henry was sent to 
a school in the neighbourhood, where he learned to 
read and write, and made some small progress in arith- 
metic. He was, then, taken home, and under the 
direction of his father, who had opened a grammar 
school in his own house, he acquired a superficial 
knowledge of the Latin language; and learned to read 
the character, but never to translate Greek. At the 
same time he made a considerable proficiency in the 
mathematics, the only branch of education for which, 
it seems, he discovered, in his youth, the slightest pre- 
dilection. But he was too idle to gain any solid advan- 
tage from the opportunities which were thrown in his 
way. He was passionately addicted to the sports of the 
field, and could not support the confinement and toil 
which education required. Hence, instead of system 
or any semblance of regularity in his studies, his efforts 
were always desultory, and became more and more 
rare; until at length, when the hour of his school ex- 
ercises arrived, Patrick was scarcely ever to be found. 
He was in the forest with his gun, or over the brook 
with his angle-rod; and, in these frivolous occupations, 
when not controlled by the authority of his father, 
(which was rarely exerted,) he would, it is said, spend 
whole days and weeks, with an appetite rather whetted 
than cloyed by enjoyment. His school fellows, having 
observed his growing passion for these amusements, and 
having remarked that its progress was not checked 
either by the want of companions or the want of sue- 



LIFE OF HENRY. 5 

cess, have frequently watched his movements to disco- 
ver, if they could, the secret source of that delight which 
they seemed to afford him. But they made no disco- 
very which led them to any other conclusion than (to 
use their own expression) " that he loved idleness for 
its own sake." They have frequently observed him 
lying along, under the shade of some tree that over- 
hung the sequestered stream, watching, for hours, at 
the same spot, the motionless cork of his fishing line, 
without one encouraging symptom of success, and with- 
out any apparent source of enjoyment, unless he could 
find it in the ease of his posture, or in the illusions of 
hope, or, which is most probable, in the stillness of the 
scene and the silent workings of his own imagination. 
This love of solitude, in his youth, was often observed. 
Even when hunting with a party, his choice was not to 
join the noisy band that drove the deer; he preferred to 
take his stand, alone, where he might wait for the pass- 
ing game, and indulge himself, meanwhile, in the luxury 
of thinking. Not that he was averse to society; on the 
contrary, he had, at times, a very high zest for it. But 
even in society, his enjoyments while young, were of a 
peculiar cast; he did not mix in the wild mirth of his 
equals in age; but sat, quiet and demure, taking no part 
in the conversation, giving no responsive smile to the 
circulating jest, but lost, to all appearance, in silence 
and abstraction. This abstraction, however, was only 
apparent; for on the dispersion of a company, when in- 
terrogated by his parents as to what had been passing, 
he was able not only to detail the conversation, but to 
sketch, with strict fidelity,' the character of every 
speaker. None of these early delineations of charac- 
ter are retained by his cotemporaries; and, indeed, 
they are said to have been more remarkable for their 
justness, than for any peculiar felicity of execution. 



6 SKETCHES OF THE 

I cannot learn that he gave, in his youth, any evi- 
dence of that precocity which sometimes distinguishes 
uncommon genius. His companions recollect no in- 
stance of premature wit, no striking sentiment, no flash 
of fancy, no remarkable beauty or strength of ex- 
pression; and no indication, however slight, either of 
that impassioned love of liberty, or of that adventurous 
daring and intrepidity, which marked, so strongly, his 
future character. So far was he, indeed, from exhi- 
biting any one prognostic of this greatness, that every 
omen foretold a life, at best of mediocrity, if not of in- 
significance. His person is represented as having been 
coarse, his manners uncommonly awkward, his dress 
slovenly, his conversation very plain, his aversion to study 
invincible, and his faculties almost entirely benumbed by 
indolence. No persuasion could bring him either to read 
or to work. On the contrary, he ran wild in the forest, 
like one of the aborigines of the country, and divided 
his life between the dissipation and uproar of the chase, 
and the languor of inaction. 

His propensity to observe and comment upon the 
human character, was, so far as I can learn, the only 
circumstance, which distinguished him, advantageously, 
from his youthful companions. This propensity seems 
to have been born with him, and to have exerted itself, 
instinctively, the moment that a new subject was pre- 
sented to his view. Its action was incessant, and it 
became, at length, almost the only intellectual exercise 
in which he seemed to take delight. To this cause may 
be traced that consummate knowledge of the human 
heart which he finally attained, and which enabled him, 
when he came upon the public stage, to touch the springs 
of passion with a master-hand, and to control the reso- 
lutions and decisions of his hearers, with a power, 
almost more than mortal. 



LIFE OF HENRY.. 7 

From what has been already stated, it will be seen, 
how little education had to do with the formation of this 
great man's mind. He was, indeed, a mere child of 
nature, and nature seems to have been too proud 
and too jealous of her work, to permit it to be touch- 
ed by the hand of art. She gave him Shakspeare's 
genius, and bade him, like Shakspeare, to depend on 
that alone. Let not the youthful reader, however, de- 
duce, from the example of Mr. Henry, an argument in 
favour of indolence and the contempt of study. Let 
him remember that the powers which surmounted the 
disadvantage of those early habits, were such as very 
rarely appear upon this earth. Let him remember, 
too, how long the genius, even of Mr. Henry, was kept 
down and hidden from the public view, by the sorcery 
of those pernicious habits; through what years of 
poverty and wretchedness they doomed him to struggle; 
and, let him remember, that at length, when in the 
zenith of his glory, Mr. Henry himself, had frequent 
occasions to deplore the consequences of his early 
neglect of literature, and to bewail " the ghosts of his 
departed hours." 

His father, unable to sustain, with convenience, the 
expense of so large a family as was now multiplying on 
his hands, found it necessary to qualify his. sons, at a 
very early age, to support themselves. With this view, 
Patrick was placed, at the age of fifteen, behind the 
counter of a merchant in the country. How he con- 
ducted himself in this situation, I have not been able to 
learn. There could not, however, I presume, have 
been any flagrant impropriety in his conduct, since, in 
the next year, his father considered him qualified to 
carry on business, on his own account. Under this im- 
pression, he purchased a small adventure of goods for 



O SKETCHES OF THE 

his two sons, William and Patrick, and, according to 
the language of the country, " set them up in trade." 
William's habits of idleness were, if possible, still more 
unfortunate than Patrick's. The chief management of 
their concerns devolved, therefore, on the younger 
brother, and that management seems to have been 
most wretched. 

Left to himself, all the indolence of his character 
returned. Those unfortunate habits which he had 
formed, and whose spell was already too strong to be 
broken, comported very poorly with that close attention, 
that accuracy and persevering vigour, which are essen- 
tial to the merchant. The drudgery of retailing and of 
book-keeping soon became intolerable; yet he was 
obliged to preserve appearances by remaining, conti- 
nually, -at his stand. Besides these unpropitious habits, 
there was still another obstacle to his success, in the na- 
tural kindness of his temper. " He could not find it in 
his heart" to disappoint any one who came to him for 
credit; and he was very easily satisfied by apologies for 
non-payment. He condemned, in himself, this facility 
of temper, and foresaw the embarrassments with which 
it threatened him; but he was unable to overcome it. 
Even with the best prospects, the confinement of such 
a business would have been scarcely supportable; but 
with those which now threatened him, his store be- 
came a prison. To make the matter still worse, the 
joys of the chase, joys now to him forbidden, echoed 
around him every morning, and by their contrast, and 
the longings which they excited, contributed to deepen 
the disgust which he had taken to his employments. 

From these painful reflections, and the gloomy fore- 
bodings which darkened the future, he sought, at first, 
a refuge in music, for which it seems he had a natural 



LIFE OF HENRY. 



taste, and he learned to play well on the violin and on 
the flute. From music he passed to books, and, having 
procured a few light and elegant authors, acquired, for 
the first time, a relish for reading. 

He found another relief, too, in the frequent oppor- 
tunities now afforded him of pursuing his favourite study 
of the human character. The character of every cus- 
tomer underwent this scrutiny; and that, not with refer- 
ence either to the integrity or solvency of the individual, 
in which one would suppose that Mr. Henry would feel 
himself most interested; but in relation to the structure 
of his mind, the general cast of his opinions, the motives 
and principles which influenced his actions, and what 
may be called the philosophy of character. In pursuing 
these investigations, he is said to have resorted to arts, 
apparently so far above his years, and which look so 
much like an after-thought, resulting from his future 
eminence, that I should hesitate to make the statement, 
were it not attested by so many witnesses, and by some 
who cannot be suspected of the capacity for having fabri- 
cated the fact. Their account of it, then, is this; that 
whenever a company of his customers met in the store, 
(which frequently happened on the last day of the week,) 
and were, themselves, sufficiently gay and animated to 
talk and act as nature prompted, without concealment, 
without reserve, he would take no part in their discus- 
sions, but listen with a silence as deep and attentive, as 
if under the influence of some potent charm. If, on the 
contrary, they were dull and silent, he would, without 
betraying his drift, task himself to set them in motion, 
and excite them to remark, collision, and exclamation. 
He was peculiarly delighted with comparing their cha- 
racters, and ascertaining how they would, severally, 
act, in given situations. With this view he would state 

B 



10 SKETCHES OF THE 

an hypothetic case, and call for their opinions, one by 
one, as to the conduct which would be proper in it. If 
they differed, he would demand their reasons, and enjoy 
highly, the debates in which he would thus involve them. 
By multiplying and varying those imaginary cases at 
pleasure, he ascertained the general course of human 
opinion, and formed, for himself, as it were, a graduated 
scale of the motives and conduct which are natural to 
man. Sometimes he would entertain them with stories, 
gathered from his reading, or, as was more frequently 
the case, drawn from his own fancy, composed of 
heterogeneous circumstances, calculated to excite, by 
turns, pity, terror, resentment, indignation, contempt; 
pausing, in the turns of his narrative, to observe the 
effect; to watch the different modes in which the pas- 
sions expressed themselves, and learn the language of 
emotion from those children of nature. 

In these exercises, Mr. Henry could have had no- 
thing in view beyond the present gratification of a 
natural propensity. The advantages of them, however, 
were far more permanent, and gave the brightest colours 
to his future life. For those continual efforts to render 
himself intelligible to his plain and unlettered hearers, 
on subjects entirely new to them, taught him that clear 
and simple style which forms the best vehicle of thought 
to a popular assembly; while his attempts to interest and 
affect them, in order that he might hear from them the 
echo of nature's voice, instructed him in those topics of 
persuasion by which men were the most certainly to 
be moved, and in the kind of imagery and structure of 
language, which were the best fitted to strike and agitate 
their hearts. These constituted his excellencies as ' an 
orator; and never was there a man in any age, who 
possessed, in a more eminent degree, the lucid and 



LIFE OF HENRY. 11 

nervous style of argument, the command of the most 
beautiful and striking imagery, or that language of 
passion which burns from soul to soul. 
/In the mean time, the business of the store was 
rushing headlong, to its catastrophe. One year put an 
end to it. William was then thrown loose upon society, 
to which he was never, afterwards, usefully attached;* 
and Patrick was engaged, for the two or three following 
years, in winding up this disastrous experiment as well 
as he could. 

His misfortunes, however, seem not to have had the 
effect either of teaching him prudence or of chilling his 
affections. For, at the early age of eighteen, we find 
him married to a Miss Shelton, the daughter of an honest 
farmer in the neighbourhood, but in circumstances too 
poor to contribute effectually to her support. By the 
joint assistance of their parents, however, the young 
couple were settled on a small farm, and, here, with the 
assistance of one or two slaves, Mr. Henry had to delve 
the earth, with his own hands, for subsistence. Such 
are the vicissitudes of human life! It is curious to 
contemplate this giant genius, destined in a few years to 
guide the councils of a mighty nation, but unconscious 
of the intellectual treasures which he possessed, encum- 
bered, at the early age of eighteen, with the cares of a 
family; obscure, unknown, and almost unpitied; digging, 
with wearied limbs and with an aching heart, a small 



* I have seen an original letter from Col. John Henry to his son William, in 
which he remonstrates with him on his wild and dissipated course of life. 
There is reason to believe, however, that at a later period, he may have re- 
formed, since a gentleman, to whom the manuscript of this work was submit- 
ted, notes on this passage, that when he was at college at Williamsburg, he 
recollects to have seen William Henry a member of the assembly, from the 
county of Fluvanna ; that he was called colonel, and was, he afterwards under- 
stood, pretty well provided as to fortune. 



12 SKETCHES OF THE 

spot of barren earth, for bread, and blessing the hour of 
night which relieved him from toil. Little could the 
wealthy and great of the land, as they rolled along the 
highway in splendour, and beheld the young rustic at 
work in the coarse garb of a labourer, covered with 
dust and melting in the sun, have suspected that this 
was the man who was destined not only to humble their 
pride, but to make the prince himself tremble on his 
distant throne, and to shake the brightest jewels from 
the British crown. Little, indeed, could he himself have 
suspected it; for amidst the distresses which thickened 
around him at this time, and threatened him not only 
with obscurity but with famine, no hopes came to cheer 
the gloom, nor did there remain to him any earthly 
consolation, save that which he found in the bosom of 
his own family. Fortunately for him, there never was 
a heart which felt this consolation with greater force. 
No man ever possessed the domestic virtues in a 
higher degree, or enjoyed, more exquisitely, those 
pure delights which flow from the endearing relations 
of conjugal life. 

Mr. Henry's want of agricultural skill, and his uncon- 
querable aversion to every species of systematic labour, 
drove him, necessarily, after a trial of two years, to 
abandon this pursuit altogether. His next step seems to 
have been dictated by absolute despair; for, selling off his 
little possessions, at a sacrifice for cash, he entered, a 
second time, on the inauspicious business of merchan- 
dize. Perhaps, he flattered himself that he would be able 
to profit by his past experience, and conduct this experi- 
ment to a more successful issue. But if he did so, he 
deceived himself. He soon found that he had not chang- 
ed his character, by changing his pursuits. His early 
habits still continued to haunt him. The same want of 



LIFE OF HENRY. 13 

method, the same facility of temper, soon became appa- 
rent by their ruinous effects. He resumed his violin, his 
flute, his books, his curious inspection of human nature ; 
and not unfrequently ventured to shut up his store, and 
indulge himself in the favourite sports of his youth. 

His reading, however, began to assume a more serious 
character. He studied geography, in which it is said 
that he became an adept. He read, also, the charters 
and history of the colony. He became fond of histo- 
rical works generally, particularly those of Greece and 
Rome; and, from the tenacity of his memory and the 
strength of his judgment soon made himself a perfect 
master of their contents. Livy was his favourite; and 
having procured a translation, he became so much 
enamoured of the work, that he made it a standing rule 
to read it through, once at least, in every year, during 
the early part of his life.* The grandeur of the 
Roman character, so beautifully exhibited by Livy, 
filled him with surprise and admiration; and he was 
particularly enraptured with those vivid descriptions 
and eloquent harangues with which the work abounds. 
Fortune could scarcely have thrown in his way, a book 
better fitted to foster his republican spirit, and awaken 
the still dormant powers of his genius; and it seems not 
improbable, that the lofty strain in which he himself 
afterwards both spoke and acted, was, if not originally 
inspired, at least highly raised, by the noble models set 
before him by this favourite author. 

This second mercantile experiment was still more 
unfortunate than the first. In a few years it left him a 
bankrupt, and placed him in a situation than which it is 
difficult to conceive one more wretched. Every atom 
of his property was now gone, his friends were imable 

* Judge Nelson had this statement from Mr. Henry himself. 



14 SKETCHES OF THE 

to assist him any further; he had tried every means of 
support, of which he could suppose himself capable, and 
every one had failed; ruin was behind him; poverty, debt, 
want, and famine before; and as if his cup of misery 
were not already full enough, here were a suffering 
wife and children to make it overflow. 

But with all his acuteness of feeling, Mr. Henry pos- 
sessed great native firmness of character; and, let me 
add, great reliance, too, on that unseen arm which 
never long deserts the faithful. Thus supported, he 
was able to bear up under the heaviest pressure of mis- 
fortune, and even to be cheerful, under circumstances 
which would sink most other men into despair. 

It was at this period of his fortunes, that Mr. Jefferson 
became acquainted with him; and the reader, I am 
persuaded, will be gratified with that gentleman's own 
account of it. These are his words. " My acquaint- 
ance with Mr. Henry commenced in the winter of 
1759-60. On my way to the college, I passed the 
Christmas holidays, at Col. Dandridge's, in Hanover, 
to whom Mr. Henry was a near neighbour. During 
the festivity of the season, I met him in society every 
day, and we became well acquainted, although I was 
much his junior, being then in my seventeenth year, 
and he a married man. His manners had something 
of coarseness in them ; his passion was music, dancing 
and pleasantry. He excelled in the last, and it attach- 
ed every one to him. You ask some account of his 
mind and information at this period; but you will re- 
collect that we were almost continually engaged in the 
usual revelries of the season. The occasion perhaps, 
as much as his idle disposition, prevented his engaging 
in any conversation which might give the measure 
either of his mind or information. Opportunity was 



LIFE OF HENRY. 15 

not, indeed, wholly wanting; because Mr. John Camp- 
bell was there, who had married Mrs. Spotswood, the 
sister of Col. Dandridge. He was a man of science, 
and often introduced conversation on scientific subjects. 
Mr. Henry had, a little before, broken up his store, or 
rather it had broken him up; but his misfortunes were 
not to be traced, either in his countenance or conduct." 

This cheerfulness of spirit, under a reverse of for- 
tune so severe, is certainly a very striking proof of the 
manliness of his character. It is not, indeed, easy to 
conceive that a mind like Mr. Henry's could finally sink 
under any pressure of adversity. Such a mind, al- 
though it may not immediately perceive whither to di- 
rect its efforts, must always possess a consciousness of 
power sufficient to buoy it above despondency. But, be 
this as it may, of Mr. Henry it was certainly true, as 
Doctor Johnson has observed of Swift, that " he was 
not one of those who, having lost one part of life in 
idleness, are tempted to throw away the remainder in 
despair." • 

It seems to be matter of surprise, that even yet, 
amidst all these various struggles for subsistence, the 
powers of hismindhadnot so far developed themselves as 
to suggest to any friend the pursuit for which he was 
formed. He seems to have been a plant of slow growth, 
but, like other plants of that nature, formed for dura- 
tion, and fitted to endure the buffetings of the rudest 
storm. 

It was now, when all other experiments had failed, 
that, as a last effort, he determined, of his own accord, 
to make a trial of the law. No one expected him to 
succeed in any eminent degree. His unfortunate habits 
were, by no means, suited to so laborious a profession: 
and even if it were not too late in life for him to hope 



16 SKETCHES OF THE 

to master its learning, the situation of his affairs forbade 
an extensive course of reading. In addition to these 
obstacles, the business of the profession, in that quar- 
ter, was already in hands from which it was not easily 
to be taken; for (to mention no others) judge Lyons, the 
late president of the court of appeals, was then at the 
bar of Hanover and the adjacent counties, with an un- 
rivalled reputation for legal learning; and Mr. John 
Lewis, a man, also, of very respectable legal attain- 
ments, occupied the whole field of forensic eloquence. 
Mr. Henry, himself, seems to have hoped for nothing 
more from the profession than a scanty subsistence for 
himself and his family, and his preparation was suited 
to these humble expectations; for to the study of a pro- 
fession, which is said to require the lucubrations of 
twenty years, Mr. Henry devoted not more than six 
weeks.* On this preparation, however, he obtained a 
license to practise the law. How he passed with two 
of the examiners, I have no intelligence; but he himself 
used to relate his interview with the third. This was 
no other than Mr. John Randolph, who was afterwards 
the king's attorney-general for the colony; a gentleman 
of the most courtly elegance of person and manners, a 
polished wit, and a profound lawyer. At first, he was 
so much shocked by Mr. Henry's very ungainly figure 
and address, that he refused to examine him: under- 
standing, however, that he had already obtained two sig- 
natures, he entered, with manifest reluctance, on the 
business. A very short time was sufficient to satisfy 
him of the erroneous conclusion which he had drawn 
from the exterior of the candidate. With evident marks 

* So say Mr. Jefferson and judge Winston. Mr. Pope says nine months. 
Col. Meredith and Capt. Dabney, six or eight months. Judge Tyler, one 
month ; and he adds, " This I had from his own lips. In this time, he read 
Coke upon Littleton, and the Virginia laws." 



LIFE OF HENRY. 17 

of increasing surprise (produced no doubt by the pecu- 
liar texture and strength of Mr. Henry's style, and the 
boldness and originality of his combinations) he conti- 
nued the examination for several hours: interrogating 
the candidate, not on the principles of municipal law, 
in which he no doubt soon discovered his deficiency, 
but on the laws of nature and of nations, on the policy 
of the feudal system, and on general history, which last 
he found to be his strong hold. During the very short 
portion of the examination which was devoted to the 
common law, Mr. Randolph dissented, or affected to dis- 
sent, from one of Mr. Henry's answers, and called upon 
him to assign the reasons of his opinion. This pro- 
duced an argument; and Mr. Randolph now played off 
on him, the same arts which he himself, had so often 
practised on his country customers; drawing him out 
by questions, endeavouring to puzzle him by subtleties, 
assailing him with declamation, and watching continual- 
ly, the defensive operations of his mind. After a consi- 
derable discussion, he said, " you defend your opinions 
well, sir; but now to the law and to the testimony." 
Hereupon he carried him to his office, and opening the 
authorities, said to him, " behold the force of natural 
reason; you have never seen these books, nor this prin- 
ciple of the law; yet you are right and I am wrong; and 
from the lesson which you have given me (you must 
excuse me for saying it) I will never trust to appear- 
ances again. Mr. Henry, if your industry be only half 
equal to your genius, I augur that you will do well, and 
become an ornament and an honour to your profes- 
sion." It was always Mr. Henry's belief that Mr. Ran- 
dolph had affected this difference of opinion, merely to 
afford him the pleasure of a triumph, and to make some 
atonement for the wound which his first repulse had 



18 SKETCHES OF THE 

inflicted. Be this as it may, the interview was followed 
by the most marked and permanent respect on the part 
of Mr. Randolph, and the most sincere good will and 
gratitude, on that of Mr. Henry.* 

It was at the age of four and twenty that Mr. Henry 
obtained his license. Of the science of law, he knew 
almost nothing: of the practical part he was so wholly 
ignorant, that he was not only unable to draw a declara- 
tion or a plea, but incapable, it is said, of the most com- 
mon and simple business of his profession, even of the 
mode of ordering a suit, giving a notice, or making a 
motion in court. It is not at all wonderful therefore, 
that such a novice, opposed as he was by veterans, 
covered with the whole armour of the law, should 
linger in the back ground, for three years.f 

During this time, the wants and distresses of his fami- 
ly were extreme. The profits of his practice could not 
have supplied them even with the necessaries of life: 
and he seems to have spent the greatest part of his time, 

* This account of Mr. Henry's examination is given by judge Tyler, who 
states it as coming from Mr. Henry himself. It was written before I had 
received the following statement from Mr. Jefferson ; and although there is 
some difference in the circumstances, it has not been thought important 
enough to make an alteration of the text necessary. This is Mr. Jefferson's 
statement. " In the spring of 1760, he came to Williamsburg to obtain a 
license as a lawyer, and he called on me at college. He told me he had 
been reading law only six weeks. Two of the examiners, however, Peyton 
and John Randolph, men of great facility of temper, signed his license with 
as much reluctance as their dispositions would permit them to show. Mr. 
Wythe absolutely refused. Robert C.Nicholas refused also at first; but, on 
repeated importunities and promises of future reading, he signed. These 
facts I had afterwards from the gentlemen themselves; the two Randolphs 
acknowledging he was very ignorant of the law, but that they perceived 
him to be a young man of genius, and did not doubt that he would soon 
qualify himself." 

j- " He was not distinguished at the bar for near four years." Judge 
Winston : yet Mr. Burk intimates that he took the lead in his profession at 
once. 3d vol. 301. 



» 



LIFE OF HENRY. 19 

both of his study of the law and the practice of the first 
two or three years, with his father-in-law, Mr. Shelton, 
who then kept the tavern at Hanover court house. 
Whenever Mr. Shelton was from home, Mr. Henry sup- 
plied his place in the tavern, received the guests, and at- 
tended to their entertainment. All this was very natural 
in Mr. Henry's situation, and seems to have been purely 
the voluntary movement of his naturally kind and obliging 
disposition. Hence, however, a story has arisen, that in 
the early part of his life, he was a bar-keeper by pro- 
fession. The fact seems not to have been so: but if it 
had been, it would certainly have redounded much more 
to his honour than to his discredit; for as Mr. Henry 
owed no part of his distinction either to birth or fortune, 
but wholly to himself, the deeper the obscurity and 
poverty from which he emerged, the stronger is the 
evidence which it bears to his powers, and the greater 
glory does it shed around him. 

About the time of Mr. Henry's coming to the bar, a 
controversy arose in Virginia, which gradually produced 
a very strong excitement, and called to it, at length, the 
attention of- the whole state. 

This was the famous controversy between the clergy 
on the one hand, and the legislature and people of the 
colony on the other, touching the stipend claimed by the 
former; and as this was the occasion on which Mr. 
Henry's genius first broke forth, those who take an 
interest in his life, will not be displeased by a particular 
account of the nature and grounds of the dispute. It 
will be borne in mind, that the church of England was 
at this period, the established church of Virginia; and, 
by an act of assembly passed so far back as the year 
1696, each minister of a parish had been provided with 
an annual stipend of sixteen thousand pounds of tobacco. 



20 SKETCHES OF THE 

This act was re-enacted with amendments, in 1748, 
and in this form, had received the royal assent. The 
price of tobacco had long remained stationary at two 
pence in the pound, or sixteen shillings and eight pence 
per hundred. According to the provisions of the law, 
the clergy had the right to demand, and were in the 
practice of receiving payment of their stipend, in the 
specific tobacco; unless they chose,- for convenience, 
to commute it for money at the market price. In the 
year 1 755, however, the crop of tobacco having fallen 
short, the legislature passed " an act to enable the 
inhabitants of this colony to discharge their tobacco 
debts in money for the present year:" by the provisions 
of which " all persons from whom any tobacco was due, 
were authorized to pay the same either in tobacco, or in 
money, after tlw rate of sixteen shillings and eight pence 
per hundred, at the option of the debtor." This act was 
to continue in force for ten months and no longer, and 
did not contain the usual clause of suspension, until it 
should receive the royal assent. Whether the scarcity of 
tobacco was so general and so notorious, as to render 
this act a measure of obvious humanity and necessity, or 
whether the clergy were satisfied by its generality, since 
it embraced sheriffs, clerks, attornies, and all other 
tobacco creditors, as well as themselves, or whether 
they acquiesced in it as a temporary expedient, which 
they supposed not likely to be repeated, it is certain that 
no objection was made to the law at that time. They 
could not indeed, have helped observing the benefits 
which the rich planters derived from the act; for they 
were receiving from fifty to sixty shillings per hundred 
for their tobacco, while they paid off their debts, due in 
that article, at the old price of sixteen shillings and eight 
pence. Nothing, however, was then said in defence 



LIFE OF HENRY. 21 

either of the royal prerogative, or of the rights of the 
clergy, but the law was permitted to go peaceably 
through its ten months operation. The great tobacco 
planters had not forgotten the fruits of this act, when, 
in the year 1758, upon a surmise that another short 
crop was likely to occur, the provisions of the act of 
1 755 were re-enacted, and the new law, like the former, 
contained no suspending clause. The crop, as had 
been anticipated, did fall short, and the price of tobacco 
rose immediately from sixteen and eight pence to fifty 
shillings per hundred. The clergy now took the alarm, 
and the act was assailed by an indignant, sarcastic, and 
vigorous pamphlet, entitled " The Two-Penny Act/' 
from the pen of the Rev. John Camm, the rector of 
York-Hampton parish, and the Episcopalian commis- 
sary for the colony* He was answered by two pam- 
phlets, written, the one by Col. Richard Bland, and the 
other by Col. Landon Carter, in both which the com- 
missary was very roughly handled. He replied, in a 
still severer pamphlet, under the ludicrous title of " The 
Colonels Dismounted." The colonels rejoined; and this 
war of pamphlets, in which, witli some sound argument, 
there was a great deal of what Dryden has called " the 
horse play of raillery/' was kept up, until the whole 
colony, which had at first looked on for amusement, 
kindled seriously in the contest from motives of 
interest. Such was the excitement produced by the 
discussion, and at length so strong the current against 
the clergy, that the printers found it expedient to shut 
their presses against them in this colony, and Mr. Camm 



* The governor of Virginia represented the king; the council, the house 
of lords; and the Episcopalian commissary (a member of the council) repre- 
sented the spiritual part of that house ; the house of burgesses was, of 
course, the house of commons. 



ZZ SKETCHES OF THE 

had at last to resort to Maryland for publication. These 
pamphlets are still extant; and it seems impossible to 
deny, at this day, that the clergy had much the best of 
the argument. The king in his council, took up the 
subject, denounced the act of 1758 as an usurpation, 
and declared it utterly null and void. Thus supported, 
the clergy resolved to bring the question to a judicial 
test; and suits were accordingly brought by them, in the 
various county courts of the colony, to recover their 
stipends in the specific tobacco. They selected the 
county of Hanover as the place of the first experiment; 
and this was made in a suit instituted by the Rev. James 
Maury,* against the collector of that county and his 
sureties. The record of this suit is now before me. 
The declaration is founded on the act of 1748 which 
gives the tobacco; the defendants pleaded specially the 
act of 1758, which authorizes the commutation into 
money, at sixteen and eight pence: to this plea the 
plaintiff demurred; assigning for causes of demurrer, 
first, that the act of 1 758, not having received the royal 
assent, had not the force of a law; and, secondly, that 
the king, in council, had declared that act null and 
void. The case stood for argument on the demurrer 
to the November term, 1763, and was argued by Mr. 
Lyons for the plaintiff, and Mr. John Lewis for the 
defendants; when the court, very much to the credit of 
their candour and firmness, breasted the popular current 
by sustaining the demurrer. Thus far the clergy sailed 
before the wind, and concluded, with good reason, that 



* Mr. Burk (vol. 3d. page 303) makes the Rev. Patrick Henry the plaintiff 
in this cause ; in this he is corrected by the records of the county. Mr. Burk, 
also, sets down " The Two-Penny Act" to the speculations of a man by the 
name of Dickinson; in this he is confuted by the act itself ; the preamble 
expressly founding it, on the shortness of the crop. 



LIFE OP HENRY. 



23 



their triumph was complete: for the act of 1758 having 
been declared void by the judgment on the demurrer, 
that of 1 748 was left in full force, and became, in law, 
the only standard for the finding of the jury. Mr. Lewis 
was so thoroughly convinced of this, that he retired 
from the cause; informing his clients that it had been, 
in effect, decided against them, and that there remained 
nothing more for him to do. In this desperate situation, 
they applied to Patrick Henry, and he undertook to 
argue it for them before the jury, at the ensuing term. 
Accordingly, on the first day of the following December, 
he attended the court, and, on his arrival, found on the 
court-yard, such a concourse, as would have appalled 
any other man in his situation. They were not the 
people of the county merely who were there, but 
visitors from all the counties, to a considerable distance 
around. The decision upon the demurrer, had produced 
a violent ferment amongst the people, and equal exulta- 
tion on the part of the clergy; who attended the court in 
a large body, either to look down opposition, or to enjoy 
the final triumph of this hard fought contest, which they 
now considered as perfectly secure. Among many 
other clergymen, who attended on this occasion, came 
the reverend Patrick Henry, who was the plaintiff in 
another cause of the same nature, then depending in 
court. When Mr. Henry saw his uncle approach, he 
walked up to his carnage, accompanied by Col. Mere- 
dith, and expressed his regret at seeing him there. 
" Why so?" enquired the uncle. " Because, sir," said 
Mr. Henry, " you know that I have never yet spoken 
in public, and I fear that I shall be too much overawed 
by your presence, to be able to do my duty to my clients; 
besides sir, I shall be obliged to say some hard things 
of the clergy, and I am very unwilling to give pain to 



24> SKETCHES OF THE 

your feelings." His uncle reproved him for having 
engaged in the cause; which Mr. Henry excused by 
saying, that the clergy had not thought him worthy of 
being retained on their side, and he knew of no moral 
principle by which he was bound to refuse a fee 
from their adversaries; besides, he confessed, that in 
this controversy, both his heart and judgment, as well 
as his professional duty, were on the side of the people; 
he then requested* that his uncle would do him the 
favour to leave the ground. " Why, Patrick," said the 
old gentleman with a good-natured smile, " as to your 
saying hard things of the clergy, I advise you to let that 
alone — take my word for it, you will do yourself more 
harm than you will them; and as to my leaving the 
ground, I fear, my boy, that my presence could neither 
do you harm or good, in such a cause. However, since 
you seem to think otherwise, and desire it of me, so 
earnestly, you shall be gratified." Whereupon, he 
entered his carriage again, and returned home. 

Soon after the opening of the court, the cause was 
called. It stood on a writ of enquiry of damages, no plea 
having been entered by the defendants since the judg- 
ment on the demurrer. The array before Mr. Henry's 
eyes was now most fearful. On the bench sat more than 
twenty clergymen, the most learned men in the colony, 
and the most capable, as well as the severest critics be- 
fore whom it was possible for him to have made his debut. 
The court house was crowded with an overwhelming 
multitude, and surrounded with an immense and anxious 
throng, who not finding room to enter, were endeavour- 
ing to listen without, in the deepest attention. But there 
was something still more awfully disconcerting than all 
this; for in the chair of the presiding magistrate, sat no 
other person than his own father. Mr. Lyons opened 



LIFE OF HENRY. 25 

the cause very briefly: in the way of argument he did 
nothing more than explain to the jury, that the decision 
upon the demurrer had put the act of 1758 entirely out 
of the way, and left the law of 1 748 as the only stan- 
dard of their damages; he then concluded with a highly 
wrought eulogium on the benevolence of the clergy. 
And, now, came on the first trial of Patrick Henry's 
strength. No one had ever heard him speak, and curi- 
osity was on tiptoe. He rose very awkwardly, and fal- 
tered much in his exordium. The people hung their 
heads at so unpromising a commencement; the clergy 
were observed to exchange sly looks with each other; 
and his father is described as having almost sunk with 
confusion, from his seat. But these feelings were of 
short duration, and soon gave place to others, of a very 
different character. For, now, were those wonderful 
faculties which he possessed, for the first time developed; 
and now, was first witnessed that mysterious and almost 
supernatural transformation of appearance, which the 
fire of his own eloquence never failed to work in him. 
For as his mind rolled along, and began to glow from 
its own action, all the exuvice of the clown seemed to 
shed themselves, spontaneously. His attitude, by de- 
grees, became erect and lofty. The spirit of his genius 
awakened all his features. His countenance shone with 
a nobleness and grandeur which it had never before 
exhibited. There was a lightning in his eyes which 
seemed to rive the spectator. His action became grace- 
ful, bold, and commanding; and in the tones of his voice, 
but more especially in his emphasis, there was a pecu- 
liar charm, a magic, of which any one who ever heard 
him will speak as soon as he is named, but of which no 
one can give any adequate description. They can only 
say that it struck upon the ear and upon the heart, in a 

D 



26 SKETCHES OF THE 

manner ivhich language cannot tell. Add to all these, 
his wonder-working fancy, and the peculiar phraseology 
in which he clothed its images; for he painted to the heart 
with a force that almost petrified it. In the language 
of those who heard him on this occasion, " he made 
their blood run cold, and their hair to rise on end/' 

It will not be difficult for any one, who ever heard 
this most extraordinary man, to believe the whole 
account of this transaction which is given by his sur- 
viving hearers; and from their account, the courthouse 
of Hanover county must have exhibited on this occa- 
sion, a scene as picturesque, as has been ever witness- 
ed in real life. They say, that the people, whose 
countenance had fallen as he arose, had heard but a 
very few sentences before they began to look up; then 
to look at each other with surprise, as if doubting the 
evidence of their own senses; then, attracted by some 
strong gesture, struck by some majestic attitude, fasci- 
nated by the spell of his eye, the charm of his emphasis, 
and the varied and commanding expression of his 
countenance, they could look away no more. In less 
than twenty minutes, they might be seen in every part 
of the house, on every bench, in every window, stoop- 
ing forward from their stands, in death-like silence; their 
features fixed in amazement and awe; all their senses 
listening and ri vetted upon the speaker, as if to catch 
the last strain of some heavenly visitant. The mockery 
of the clergy was soon turned into alarm; their triumph 
into confusion and despair; and at one burst of his 
rapid and overwhelming invective, they fled from the 
bench in precipitation and terror. As for the father, 
such was his surprise, such his amazement, such his 
rapture, that, forgetting where he was, and the character 
which he was filling, tears of ecstacy streamed down. 



LIFE OF HENRY. 21 

his cheeks, without the power or inclination to repress 
them. 

The jury seem to have been so completely bewilder- 
ed, that they lost sight not only of the act of 1 748, but 
that of 1758 also; for thoughtless even of the admitted 
right of the plaintiff, they had scarcely left the bar, 
when they returned with a verdict of one penny da- 
mages. A motion was made for a new trial; but the 
court too, had now lost the equipoise of their judgment, 
and overruled the motion by an unanimous vote. The 
verdict and judgment overruling the motion, were fol- 
lowed by redoubled acclamations, from within and with- 
out the house. The people, who had with difficulty kept 
their hands off their champion, from the moment of 
closing his harangue, no sooner saw the fate of the 
cause finally sealed, than they seized him at the bar, and 
in spite of his own exertions, and the continued cry of 
" order" from the sheriffs and the court, they bore him 
out of the court house, and raising him on their 
shoulders, carried him about the yard, in a kind of 
electioneering triumph. 

O! what a scene was this for a father's heart! so 
sudden; so unlooked for; so delightfully overwhelming! 
At the time, he was not able to give utterance to any sen- 
timent; but, a few days after, when speaking of it to Mr. 
Winston,* he said, with the most engaging modesty, and 
with a tremor of voice, which showed how much more 
he felt than he expressed, " Patrick spoke in this cause, 
near an hour! and in a manner, that surprised me! and 
showed himself well informed on a subject, of which I 
did not think he had any knowledge!" 

I have tried much to procure a sketch of this cele- 
brated speech. But those of Mr. Henry's hearers who 

* The present judge Winston. 



28 SKETCHES OF THE 

survive, seem to have been bereft of their senses. They 
can only tell you in general, that they were taken 
captive; and so delighted with their captivity, that they 
followed implicitly, whithersoever he led them: That, 
at his bidding, their tears flowed from pity, and their 
cheeks flushed with indignation: That when it was 
over, they felt as if they had just awaked from some 
ecstatic dream, of which they were unable to recal or 
connect the particulars. It was such a speech as they 
believe had never before fallen from the lips of man; 
and to this day, the old people of that county cannot con- 
ceive that a higher compliment can be paid to a speaker, 
than to say of him, in their own homely phrase, " he is 
almost equal to Pahick, when lie plead against the 
parsons." 

The only topic of this speech of which any authentic 
account remains, is the order of the king in council, 
whereby the act of 1 758 had been declared void. This 
subject had in truth been disposed of by the demurrer; 
and, in strictness of proceeding, neither Mr. Henry nor 
the jury had any thing to do with it. The laxity of the 
county court practice, however, indulged him in the 
widest career he chose to take, and he laid hold of this 
point, neither with a feeble or hesitating hand; but boldly 
and vigorously pressed it upon the jury, and that, too, 
with very powerful effect. He insisted on the con- 
nexion and reciprocal duties between the king and his 
subjects; maintained that government was a conditional 
compact, composed of mutual and dependent covenants, 
of which a violation by one party discharged the other; 
and intrepidly contended that the disregard which had 
been shown in this particular, to the pressing wants of the 
colony, was an instance of royal misrule, which had thus 
far dissolved the political compact, and left the people 



LIFE OF HENRY. 29 

at liberty to consult their own safety; that they had 
consulted it by the act of 1758, which, therefore, not- 
withstanding the dissent of the king and his council, 
ought to be considered as the law of the land, and the 
only legitimate measure of the claims of the clergy. 

The nature of this topic, and the earnest and un- 
daunted manner in which Mr. Henry is said to have 
pursued and maintained it, proves, that even at this pe- 
riod, which has been marked as the era of our greatest 
attachment and devotion to the parent country, Ms 
mind at least, was disposed to pry into the course of the 
regal administration, and to speak forth his sentiments 
without any fear of the consequences. The reception 
which the people gave to the argument, proves that they 
also had no superstitious repugnance to the considera- 
tion of such topics, nor any very insuperable horror at 
the idea of a separation. Not that there is ground to 
suspect that any one had at this time, realized such an 
event, or even contemplated it as desirable. The sug- 
gestion, therefore, which I have sometimes heard, that 
Mr. Henry was already meditating the independence of 
the colonies, and sowing the seeds of those reflections 
which he wished to ripen into revolt, is, in my opinion, 
rather curious than just. I believe that he thought of 
nothing beyond success in his cause; and since the des- 
perate posture in which he found it, demanded a daring 
and eccentric course, he adopted that which has been 
already stated. The character of his argument proves, 
indeed, that he was naturally a bold and intrepid en- 
quirer, who was not to be overawed from his purpose 
by the name even of sovereignty itself; and of course 
that he was made of good revolutionary materials. But 
an adequate provocation had not, at this time, been 
given: and it would be imputing to Mr. Henry a crimi- 



30 SKETCHES OF THE 

rial ambition, of which there is no proof, to suppose 
that he was meditating the subversion of a government, 
against which the voice of serious complaint had not 
yet been heard. Besides, Mr. Henry's standing in so- 
ciety was at this period so humble, as to have rendered 
the meditation of such a purpose, on his part, presump- 
tuous in the extreme; and equally inconsistent both with 
his unassuming modesty, and that natural good sense 
and accurate judgment, which are on all hands assigned 
to him. 

Immediately on the decision of this cause, he was 
retained in all the cases, within the range of his prac- 
tice, which depended on the same question. But no 
other case was ever brought to trial. They were all, 
throughout the colony, dismissed by the plaintiffs; nor 
was any appeal ever prosecuted in the case of Mr. 
Maury. The reason assigned for this by Mr. Camm, is, 
that the legislature had voted money to support the ap- 
peal on the part of the defendants, and that the clergy 
were not rich enough to contend against the whole 
wealth and strength of the colony.* 

The clergy took their revenge in an angry pamphlet 
from the pen of Mr. Camm, in which a very con- 

* Mr. Camm is right as to the interference of the legislature. I have not 
been able, however, to find any resolution of the legislature, to this effect, 
earlier than the 7th of April, 1767 : whereas Mr. Maury's case was decided 
in Hanover, on the 1st December, 1763. The following is extracted from 
the journal of the day first mentioned: 

" On a motion made, 

" Resolved, that the committee of correspondence be directed to write 
to the agent, to defend the parish collectors from all appeals from judgments 
here given, in suits brought by the clergy, for recovering their salaries, pay- 
able on or before the last day of May, 1759 ; and that this house will engage 
to defi'ay the expense thereof." 



LIFE OF HENRY. 31 

temptuous account is given both of the advocate and 
the court. Mr. Henry is stigmatized in it as an obscure 
attorney: and the epithet was true enough as to the 
time past, but it was now true no longer. His sun had 
risen with a splendour which had never before been 
witnessed in this colony; and never afterward did it 
disgrace this glorious rising. 



32 SKETCHES OF THE 



SECTION II. 

It is almost unnecessary to state that the display 
which Mr. Henry had made in " the parsons' cause" as 
it was popularly called, placed him, at once, at the head 
of his profession, in that quarter of the colony in which 
he practised. He became the theme of every tongue. 
He had exhibited a degree of eloquence, which the 
people had never before witnessed; a species of elo- 
quence too, entirely new at the bar, and altogether his 
own. He had formed it on no living model, for there 
was none such in the country. He had not copied it 
from books, for they had described nothing of the kind; 
or if they had, he was a stranger to their contents. Nor 
had he formed it himself, by solitary study and exercise; 
for he was far too indolent for any such process. It was 
so unexampled, so unexpected, so instantaneous, and so 
transcendent in its character, that it had, to the people, 
very much the appearance of supernatural inspiration. 
He was styled " the orator of nature" and was on that 
account, much more revered by the people than if he 
had been formed by the severest discipline of the 
schools; for they considered him as bringing his cre- 
dentials directly from heaven, and owing no part of his 
greatness to human institutions. 

There were other considerations also, which drew 
him still more closely to the bosom of the people. The 
society of Virginia, was at that time pretty strongly 
discriminated. A gentleman who lived in those days, 
and who had the best opportunities of judging on the 
subject, has furnished the following interesting picture 
of it. 



LIFE OF HENRY. 33 

a To state the differences between the classes of the 
society and the lines of demarcation which separated 
them, would be difficult. The law, you know, admitted 
none, except as to the twelve counsellors. Yet in a coun- 
try insulated from the European world, insulated from 
its sister colonies, with whom there was scarcely any 
intercourse, little visited by foreigners, and having little 
matter to act upon within itself, certain families had risen 
to splendour by wealth, and by the preservation of it 
from generation to generation under the law of entails; 
some had produced a series of men of talents; families 
in general had remained stationary on the grounds of 
their forefathers, for there was no emigration to the 
westward in those days; the Irish, who had gotten '* 
possession of tlie valley between the Blue Ridge and 
the North Mountain, formed a barrier over which none 
ventured to leap; and their manners presented no 
attraction to the lowlanders to settle among them. In 
such a state of things, scarcely admitting any change 
of station, society would settle itself down into several 
strata, separated by no marked lines, but shading off 
imperceptibly from top to bottom, nothing disturbing 
the order of their repose. There were, then, first 
aristocrats, composed of the great landholders who had 
seated themselves below tide water on the main rivers, 
and lived in a style of luxury and extravagance, insupport- 
able by the other inhabitants, and which, indeed, ended, 
in several instances, in the ruin of their own fortunes. 
Next to these were what might be called half breeds; 
the descendants of the younger sons and daughters of 
the aristocrats, who inherited the pride of their ances- 
tors, without their wealth. Then came the pretenders, 
men who from vanity, or the impulse of growing wealth, 
or from that enterprize which is natural to talents, 



34 SKETCHES OF THE 

sought to detach themselves from the plebeian ranks, to 
which they properly belonged, and imitated, at some 
distance, the manners and habits of the great. Next to 
these, were a solid and independent yeomanry, looking 
askance at those above, yet not venturing to jostle them. 
And last and lowest, a feculum of beings called over- 
seers, the most abject, degraded, unprincipled race; 
always cap in hand to the dons who employed them, and 
furnishing materials for the exercise of their pride, inso- 
lence, and spirit of domination." 

It was from the body of the yeomanry, whom my 
correspondent represents as " looking askance" at those 
above them, that Mr. Henry proceeded. He belonged 
to the body of the people. His birth, education, fortune, 
and manners, made him one of themselves. They re- 
garded him, therefore, as their own property, and sent 
to them, expressly for the very purpose of humbling the 
pride of the mighty, and exalting the honour of his own 
class. 

Mr. Henry had too much sagacity not to see this 
advantage, and too much good sense not to keep and to 
improve it. He seems to have formed to himself, very 
early in life, just views of society, and to have acted 
upon them with the. most laudable system and persever- 
ance. He regarded government as instituted solely for 
the good of the people; and not for the benefit of those 
who had contrived to make a job of it. He looked 
upon the body of the people, therefore, as the basis 
of society, the fountain of all power, and, directly or 
indirectly, of all offices and honours, which had been 
instituted, originally, for their use. He made it no 
secret, therefore, nay he made it his boast, that on every 
occasion, "he bowed to the majesty of the people/' 
With regard to himself, he saw, very distinctly, that all 



LIFE OF HENRY. 35 

his hopes rested on the people's favour. He, therefore, 
adhered to them with unshaken fidelity. He retained 
their manners, their customs, all their modes of life, with 
religious caution. He dressed as plainly as the plainest 
of them; ate only the homely fare, and drank the sim- 
ple beverage of the country; mixed with them on a 
footing of the most entire and perfect equality, and 
conversed with them, even in their own vicious and 
depraved pronunciation.* 

If this last were the effect of artful compliance, as 
has been strenuously affirmed, it was certainly carrying 
the system farther than dignity would warrant. Mr. 
Henry should have been the instructor as well as the 
friend of the people, and by his example, have corrected, 
instead of adopting their errors. It is very certain, 
that by this course he disgusted many of those whom 
it was often his business to persuade; not because they 
considered it as a proof of vulgarity and ignorance, but 
because they regarded it as a premeditated artifice to 
catch the favour and affections of the people. That it 
was so, I am not disposed to believe. I think it much 
more probable, that those errors of pronunciation 
were the effect of early and inveterate habit, which 
had become incurable before he was informed of his 
mistake. He had no occasion to resort to such petty 
artifices, either to gain or to hold the affections of 
the people. He held them by a much higher and a 
much firmer title: the simplicity of his manners; the 

* Governor Page relates, that he once heard him express the following 
sentiments, in this vicious pronunciation : " Naiteral parts is better than all 
the larnin upon yearth,-" but the accuracy of Mr. Page's memory is ques- 
tioned in this particular, by the acquaintances of Mr. Henry, who say, that 
he was too good a grammarian to have uttered such a sentence, although 
they admit the inaccuracy of his pronunciation, in some of the words imput- 
ed to him. 



36 SKETCHES OP THE 

benevolence of his disposition ; the integrity of his life ; 
his real devotion to their best interests; that uncommon 
sagacity which enabled him to discern those interests 
in every situation; and the unshaken constancy with 
which he pursued them, in spite of every difficulty and 
danger that could threaten him. From the point of 
time of which we are now speaking, it is very certain 
that he suffered no gale of fortune, however high or 
prosperous, to separate him from the people. Nor did 
the people, on their part, ever desert him. He was the 
man to whom they looked in every crisis of difficulty, 
and the favourite on whom they were ever ready to lavish 
all the honours in their gift. 

Middleton, in his life of Cicero, tells us that the first 
great speech of that orator, his defence of Roscius of 
Ameria, was made at the age of twenty-seven; the same 
age, he adds, at which the learned have remarked, that 
Demosthenes distinguished himself in the assembly of 
the Athenians: " As if this were the age" (I quote his 
own words) " at which these great genios regularly 
bloomed towards maturity." It is rather curious, than 
important, to observe, that Mr. Henry furnishes another 
instance in support of this theory; since it was precisely 
in the same year of his life, that his talents first became 
known to himself and to the world. Nor let the 
admirer of antiquity revolt at our coupling the name 
of Henry, with those of Cicero and Demosthenes: it 
can be no degradation to the orator either of Greece or 
Rome, that his name stands enrolled, on the same page, 
with that of a man of whom such a judge of eloquence 
as Mr. Jefferson has said, that " he was the greatest 
orator that ever lived." 

But the taste of professional fame, which Mr. Henry 
had derived from the " parsons' cause," exquisite as it 



LIFE OF HENRY. 37 

must have been, was not sufficient to inspire him with 
a thirst for the learning of his profession. He had an 
insuperable aversion to the old black letter of the law 
books, (which was often a topic of raillery with him,) 
and he was never able to conquer it, except for prepa- 
ration in some particular cause. No love of distinction, 
no necessity however severe, were strong enough to 
bind him down to a regular course of reading. He 
could not brook the confinement. The reasoning of 
the law was too artificial, and too much cramped for 
him. Whilst unavoidably engaged in it, he felt as if 
manacled. His mind was perpetually struggling to 
break away. His genius delighted in liberty and space, 
in which it might roam at large, and feast on every 
variety of intellectual enjoyment. Hence he was never 
profound in the learning of the law. On a question 
merely legal, his inferiors, in point of talents, frequently 
embarrassed and foiled him; and it required all the 
resources of his extraordinary mind, to support the 
distinction which he had now gained. 

The most successful practice in the county courts, 
was in those days but a slender dependance for a fa- 
mily. Notwithstanding therefore, the great addition to 
his business which we have noticed, Mr. Henry seems 
still to have been pressed by want. With the hope of 
improving his situation, he removed, in the year 1764, to 
the county of Louisa, and resided at a place called 
the Roundabout. Here I have learned nothing re- 
markable of him, unless it may be thought so, that he 
pursued his favourite amusement of hunting with in- 
creased ardour. " After his removal to Louisa," says 
my informant, " he has been known to hunt deer, fre- 
quently for several days together, carrying his provision 
with him, and at night encamping in the woods. After 



DO SKETCHES OF THE 

the hunt was over, he would go from the ground to 
Louisa court, clad in a coarse cloth coat stained with 
all the trophies of the chase, greasy leather breeches 
ornamented in the same way, leggings for boots, and a 
pair of saddle-bags on his arm. Thus accoutred, he 
would enter the court house, take up the first of his 
causes that chanced to be called; and if there was any 
scope for his peculiar talent, throw his adversary into 
the back ground, and astonish both court and jury by 
the powerful effusions of his natural eloquence." 

There must have been something irresistibly capti- 
vating in Mr. Henry's mode of speaking, even on the 
most trivial subjects. The late judge Lyons has been 
heard to say of himself while practising with Mr. Henry, 
" that he could write a letter, or draw a declaration 
or plea at the bar, with as much accuracy as he could 
in his office, under all circumstances, except when 
Patrick rose to speak; but that whenever lie rose, al- 
though it might be on so trifling a subject as a summons 
and petition, for twenty shillings, he was obliged to lay 
down his pen, and could not write another word, until 
the speech was finished." Such was the charm of his 
voice and manner, and the interesting originality of his 
conceptions! 

In the fall of 1764, Mr. Henry had an opportunity 
of exhibiting himself on a new theatre. A contest 
occurred in the house of burgesses, in the case of Mr. 
James Littlepage, the returned member for the county 
of Hanover. The rival candidate and petitioner was 
Nathaniel West Dandridge.* The charge against Mr. 

* Here is another mistake of Mr. Burk's. He states the contest to have 
been between Col. Syme (Mr. Henry's half brother) and Col. Richard Lit- 
tlepage. The journal contradicts him, and supports the text. There was 
no such contest as that of which he speaks ; at least between the years 1762 
and 1768. 



LIFE OF HENRY. 39 

Littlepage was bribery and corruption. The parties 
were heard by their counsel, before the committee of 
privileges and elections, and Mr. Henry was on this 
occasion employed by Mr. Dandridge. 

Williamsburg, then the seat of government, was the 
focus of fashion and high life. The residence of the 
governor, (the immediate representative of the sove- 
reign,) the royal state in which he lived, the polite and 
brilliant circle which he always had about him, diffused 
their influence through the city and the circumjacent 
country, and filled Williamsburg with a degree of emu- 
lation, taste, and elegance, of which we can form no 
conception by the appearances of the present day. 
During the session of the house of burgesses, too, these 
stately modes of life assumed their richest forms; the 
town was filled with a concourse of visitors, as well as 
citizens, attired in their gayest colours; the streets 
exhibited a continual scene of animated and glittering 
tumult; the houses, of costly profusion. 

Such was the scene in which Mr. Henry was now 
called upon, for the first time, to make his appearance. 
He made no preparation for it, but went down just in 
the kind of garb which he had been accustomed to 
exhibit all his life, and is said to have worn on this 
occasion particularly, a suit which had suffered veiy 
considerably in the service. The contrast which he 
exhibited with the general elegance of the place, was 
so striking as to call upon him the eyes of all the curious 
and the mischievous; and, as he moved awkwardly 
about, in his coarse and threadbare dress, with a coun- 
tenance of abstraction and total unconcern as to what 
was passing around him, (interesting as it seemed to 
every one else,) he was stared at by some as a prodigy, 
and regarded by others as an unfortunate being, whose 



40 SKETCHES OF THE 

senses were disordered. When he went to attend the 
committee of privileges and elections, the matter was 
still worse. " The proud airs of aristocracy," says 
judge Tyler, detailing this incident of Mr. Henry^s life, 
" added to the dignified forms of that truly august body, 
were enough to have deterred any man possessing less 
firmness and independence of spirit than Mr. Henry. 
He was ushered with great state and ceremony into the 
room of the committee, whose chairman was Col. 
Bland.* Mr. Henry was dressed in very coarse apparel; 
no one knew any thing of him;f and scarcely was he 
treated with decent respect by any one except the chair- 
man, who could not do so much violence to his feelings 
and principles, as to depart, on any occasion, from the 
delicacy of the gentleman. But the general contempt 
was soon changed into as general admiration; for Mr. 
Henry distinguished himself by a copious and brilliant 
display on the great subject of the rights of suffrage, 
superior to any thing that had been heard before within 
those walls. Such a burst of eloquence, from a man 
so very plain and ordinary in his appearance, struck 
the committee with amazement; so that a deep and 



* Mr. Tyler says, "that enlightened and amiable man, John Blair;" but 
in this he is corrected by the journal, which shows that Mr. Bland was the 
chairman of the committee of privileges and elections for that year. I 
should have thought, from the general accuracy of Mr. Tyler's statement, 
that Mr. Blair might have been officiating as chairman pro tempore, in the ab- 
sence of Col. Bland ; but that Mr. Blair does not appear, by the journal, to 
have belonged to the committee, or even to have been a member of the 
house in 1764. His name does not appear till 1766. 

Mr. Tyler, reciting Mi'. Henry's own narrative, after a lapse of several 
years, might very easily have confounded two names as similar as those of 
Bland and Blair. 

f That is, 1 presume, of his person; for after the very splendid exhibi- 
tion which he made in the parsons' cause, his name could not have been 
wholly unknown : the text, however, gives the words of my correspondent 
faithfully. 



LIFE OF HENRY. 41 

perfect silence took place during the speech, and not a 
sound but from his lips was to be heard in the room/' 
So far, judge Tyler. Judge Winston, relating the same 
incident, says, " Some time after, a member of the 
house speaking to me of this occurrence, said, he had, 
for a day or two, observed an ill-dressed young man 
sauntering in the lobby; that he seemed to be a stran- 
ger to every body, and he had not the curiosity to en- 
quire his name; but, that attending when the case of 
the contested election came on, he was surprised to find 
this same person counsel for one of the parties; and 
still more so, when he delivered an argument supe- 
rior to any thing he had ever heard." The case, ac- 
cording to the report of the committee of privileges 
and elections, is not one which seems to present much 
scope for a very interesting discussion; but Mr. Henry's 
was one of those minds which impart interest to every 
subject they touch. 

This same year, 1764, is memorable for the origi- 
nation of that great question which led finally to the 
independence of the United States. It has been said by 
a gentleman, at least as well qualified to judge as any 
other now alive,* that " Mr. Henry certainly gave the first 
impulse to the ball of the revolution.' In order to show 
the correctness of this position, it is proper to ascertain 
the precise point to which the controversy with Great 
Britain had advanced, when Mr. Hemy first presented 
himself in the character of a statesman. 

In March, 1764, the British parliament had passed 
resolutions, preparatory to the levying a revenue on the 
colonies by a stamp tax. These resolutions were com- 
municated to the house of burgesses of Virginia, through 

* Mr. Jefferson. 
F 



42 SKETCHES OF THE 

their committee of correspondence, by the colonial agent, 
and having been maturely considered, resulted in the 
appointment of a special committee to prepare an ad- 
dress to the king, a memorial to the lords, and a re- 
monstrance to the house of commons. On the 18th of 
December, 1764, these papers were reported, and (after 
various amendments, which considerably diluted their 
spirit) received the concurrence of the council. The 
reader will perceive, on perusing them,* that, while they 
affirm, in clear and strong terms, the constitutional ex- 
emption of the colony from taxation by the British par- 
liament, they breathe nevertheless, a tone so suppliant, 
and exhibit such a picture of anticipated suffering from 
the pressure of the tax on the exhausted resources of the 
colony, as to indicate that no opposition beyond remon- 
strance, was at this time, meditated. Remonstrance, 
however, was vain. In January, 1765, the famous 
stamp act was passed, to take effect in the colonies on 
the first of November following. The annunciation of 
this measure seems at first to have stunned the continent, 
from one extremity to the other. The presses which 
spread the intelligence among the people, were them- 
selves manifestly confounded; and so far from inspiring 
the energy of resistance, they seemed rather disposed to 
have looked out for topics of consolation, under sub- 
mission.! The truth is that all ranks of society were 
confounded. No one knew what to hope, what more 
to fear, or what course was best to be taken. Some, 

* See Appendix. Note A. 

■J- Thus in the Pennsylvania Gazette of the 30th of May, 1765 — " We hear 
the sum of money arising from the new stamp duties in North America, for 
the first five years, are chiefly to be applied towards making 1 commodious 
post-roads from one province to another, erecting bridges where necessary, 
and other measures equally important to facilitate an extensive trade." 



LIFE OF HENRY. 43 

indeed, were fond enough to entertain hopes that the 
united remonstrances of the colonial legislatures, the 
fate of which had not yet been heard, might induce the 
mother country to change her policy; these hopes how- 
ever, were faint; and few there were that entertained 
them. Many considered submission in the present state 
of the colonies, as unavoidable; and that this was the 
opinion of Doctor Franklin himself, is apparent from 
the remark with which he took leave of Mr. Ingersoll, 
on his departure for America.* The idea of resistance 
by force, was no where glanced at in the most distant 
manner; no heart seems to have been bold enough at 
first, to conceive it. Men on other occasions marked 
for intrepidity and decision, now hung back; unwilling to 
submit, and yet afraid to speak out in the language of 
bold and open defiance. Tt was just at this moment of 
despondency in some quarters, suspense in others, and 
surly and reluctant submission wherever submission 
appeared, that Patrick Henry stood forth to raise the 
drooping spirit of the people, and to unite all hearts and 
hands in the cause of his country. With the view of 
making way for him and placing him in the public coun- 
cils of the countiy, Mr. William Johnson, who had been 
elected a member of the house of burgesses for the 
county of Louisa, vacated his seat by accepting the com- 
mission of coroner. The writ of election to supply his 
place was awarded on the first of May, 1765, and on 
the 20th day of that month, it appears by the journals, 
that Mr. Hemy was added to the committee for courts 
of justice. 

Here, again, he was upon a new theatre, and per- 
sonally unknown, except to those few who might have 

* " Go home and tell your countrymen to get children as fast as they 
can." — Gohdon. 



44 SKETCHES OF THE 

heard his argument on the contested election of Mr. 
Littlepage, the preceding winter. His dress and man- 
ners were still those of the plain planter, and in his per- 
sonal appearance, there was nothing to excite curiosity, 
or awaken expectation. The forms of the house, of 
which he was now for the first time a member, were, 
as has been stated, most awfully dignified; its active 
members were composed of the landed aristocracy and 
their adherents; and amongst them were men to whose 
superiority of talents, as well as influence and power, 
the yeomanry of the country had long been accustomed 
to bow, with tacit and submissive deference. 

John Robinson, the speaker of the house, was one of 
the most opulent men in the colony, and the acknow- 
ledged head of its landed aristocracy. He had now 
filled the chair of the house with great dignity, and 
without interruption, for five and twenty years. He was, 
also, the colonial treasurer; and from the high offices 
which he held, in connexion with the regal government, 
was as warm attached to its authority by interest, as 
he was by ta tei and fashion to all the grandeur of its 
forms. But, notwithstanding this close alliance with 
the court, his personal influence, in every class of 
society, was very great; and he held that influence by a 
tenure far superior to any that his own vast wealth or the 
power of the crown could confer. For he possessed a 
strong and well informed mind, enlarged and corrected 
by great experience, and he united with it a benevolence 
of spirit and a courtesy of manners which never 
failed to attach every heart that approached him. The 
poor drew near to him without awe or embarrassment; 
they came indeed, with filial confidence; for they never 
failed to find in him, a sympathetic friend, and an able 
counsellor. The rich enjoyed in him an easy, enlight- 



LIFE OF HENRY. 45 

ened, and instructive companion; and, next to the 
governor, regarded him as the highest model of elegance 
and fashion. An anecdote is related of this gentleman, 
which displays in a strong and amiable light, the exalted 
force of his feelings, and the truly noble cast of his man- 
ners. When Col. Washington (the immortal saviour 
of his country) had closed his career in the French and 
Indian war, and had become a member of the house of 
burgesses, the speaker, Robinson, was directed by a 
vote of the house, to return their thanks to that gentle- 
man, on behalf of the colony, for the distinguished mili- 
tary services which he had rendered to his country. As 
soon as Col. Washington took his seat, Mr. Robinson, 
in obedience to this order, and following the impulse of 
his own generous and grateful heart, discharged the 
duty, with great dignity; but with such warmth of 
colouring and strength of expression, as entirely con- 
founded the young hero. He rose to express his ac- 
knowledgments for the honour; but such was his tre- 
pidation and confusion, that he could 1 i give distinct 
utterance to a single syllable. He blush • I, stammered, 
and trembled, for a second; when the speaker relieved 
him, by a stroke of address that would have done honour 
to Louis the XIV. in his proudest and happiest mo- 
ment. " Sit down, Mr. Washington," said he with a 
conciliating smile; " your modesty is equal to your 
valour; and that surpasses the power of any language 
that I possess."* 

Peyton Randolph, the king's attorney-general, held 
the next rank to the speaker. He was not distinguished 
for eloquence; but he derived great weight from the 
solid powers of his understanding, and the no less solid 

* On the authority of Edmund Randolph. 



46 SKETCHES OP THE 

virtues of his heart. He was well acquainted witfi all 
the forms of parliamentary proceeding; was an eminent 
lawyer, and a well informed and practical statesman. 

Richard Bland was one of the most enlightened men 
in the colony. He was a man of finished education, 
and of the most unbending habits of application. His 
perfect mastery of every fact connected with the settle- 
ment and progress of the colony, had given him the 
name of the Virginian Antiquary.* He was a politi- 
cian of the first class; a profound logician, and was also 
considered as the first writer in the cojony.f 

Edmund Pendleton, the protege of the speaker Robin- 
son, was also, among the most prominent members in 
the house. He had, in a great measure, overcome the 
disadvantages of an extremely defective education, and, 
by the force of good company and the study of correct 
authors, had attained to great accuracy and perspicuity 
of style. The patronage of the speaker had introduced 
him to the first circles, and his manners were elevated, 
graceful, and insinuating. His person was spare, but 
well proportioned; and his countenance one of the finest 
in the world; serene — contemplative — benignant — with 

* Edmund Randolph. 

| " He was," says a correspondent, "the most learned and logical man 
of those who took a prominent lead in public affairs ; profound in constitu- 
tional lore ; but a most ungraceful speaker in debate. He wrote the first 
pamphlet on the nature of the connexion with Great Britain, which had any 
pretension to accuracy of view on that subject ; but it was a singular one : 
he would set out on sound principles, pursue them logically, till he found 
them leading to the precipice which we had to leap ; start back, alarmed ; 
then resume his ground, go over it in another direction, be led again by the 
correctness of his reasoning, to the same place, and again tack about and 
tiy other processes to reconcile right and wrong; but left his reader and 
himself bewildered between the steady index of the compass in their hand, 
and the phantasm to which it seemed to point. Still there was more sound 
matter in this pamphlet, than in the celebrated Farmer's Letters, which were 
really but anignis fatmts, misleading us from true principle." 



LIFE OP HENRY. 47 

that expression of unclouded intelligence and extensive 
reach, which seemed to denote him capable of any thing 
that could be effected by the power of the human mind. 
His mind itself, was of a very fine order. It was clear, 
comprehensive, sagacious and correct; with a most acute 
and subtle faculty of discrimination; a fertility of expe- 
dient which could never be exhausted; a dexterity of 
address which never lost an advantage and never gave 
one; and a capacity for continued and unremitting appli- 
cation, which was perfectly invincible. As a lawyer and 
a statesman, he had few equals; no superiors. For par- 
liamentary management, he was without a rival. With 
all these advantages of person, manners, address and in- 
tellect, he was also a speaker of distinguished eminence. 
He had that silver voice* of which Cicero makes such 
frequent and honourable mention — an articulation un- 
commonly distinct — a perennial stream of transparent, 
cool and sweet elocution ; and the power of presenting 
his arguments with great simplicity, and striking effect. 
He was always graceful, argumentative, persuasive; 
never vehement, rapid, or abrupt. He could instruct 
and delight; but he had no pretensions to those high 
powers which are calculated to " shake the human soul." 
George Wythe, also, a member of the House, was con- 
fessedly among the first in point of abilities. There is a 
story circulated, as upon his own authority, that he was 
initiated by his mother, in the Latin classics.f Be this as 
it may, it is certain that he had raised upon the original 
foundation, whencesoever acquired, a superstructure of 
ancient literature which has been rarely equalled in this 
country. He was perfectly familiar with the authors of 

* Fox argentea, see the Brutus, passim. 

f I heard it from the late judge Nelson, his relation. 



48 SKETCHES OF THE 

Greece and Rome; read them with the same ease, and 
quoted them with the same promptitude that he could the 
authors in his native tongue. He carried his love of 
antiquity rather too far; for he frequently subjected 
himself to the charge of pedantry ; and his admiration of 
the gigantic writers of Queen Elizabeth's reign, had 
unfortunately betrayed him into an imitation of their 
quaintness. Yet, with all this singularity of taste, he 
was a man of great capacity; powerful in argument; fre- 
quently pathetic; and elegantly keen and sarcastic in 
repartee. He was long the rival of Mr. Pendleton at the 
bar, whom he equalled as a common lawyer, and greatly 
surpassed as a civilian: but he was too open and direct 
in his conduct, and possessed too little management 
either with regard to his own temper or those of other 
men, to cope with so cool and skilful an adversary. 
Though a full match for Mr. Pendleton in the powers of 
fair and solid reasoning, Mr. Pendleton could, whenever 
he pleased, and would whenever it was necessary, 
tease him with quibbles, and vex him with sophistries, 
until he destroyed the composure of his mind and rob- 
bed him of his strength. No man was ever more entirely 
destitute of art than Mr. Wythe. He knew nothing, even 
in his profession, and never would know any thing of 
" crooked and indirect by-ways/' Whatever he had to 
do, was to be done openly, avowedly, and above board. 
He would not, even at the bar, have accepted of success 
on any other terms. This simplicity and integrity of 
character, although it sometimes exposed him to the 
arts and sneers of the less scrupulous, placed him be- 
fore his countrymen, on the ground which Cassar wished 
his wife to occupy; he was not only pure, but above all 
suspicion. The unaffected sanctity of his principles, 
united with his modesty and simple elegance of manners. 



LIFE OF HENRY. 49 

his attic wit, his stores of rare knowledge, his capacity 
for business, and the real power of his intellect, not 
only raised him to great eminence in public, but ren- 
dered him a delightful companion, and a most valuable 
friend. 

But Richard Henry Lee was the Cicero of the house. 
His face itself was on the Roman model; his nose 
Caesarean; the port and carriage of his head, leaning 
persuasively and gracefully forward; and the whole 
contour noble and fine. Mr. Lee was by far the most 
elegant scholar in the house. He had studied the 
classics in the true spirit of criticism. His taste had 
that delicate touch, which seized with intuitive cer- 
tainty every beauty of an author, and his genius that na- 
tive affinity which combined them without an effort. Into 
every walk of literature and science, he had carried this 
mind of exquisite selection, and brought it back to the 
business of life, crowned with every light of learning, 
and decked with every wreath, that all the Muses, and 
all the graces, could entwine. Nor did those light deco- 
rations constitute the whole value of its freight. He pos- 
sessed a rich store of historical and political knowledge, 
with an activity of observation, and a certainty of judg- 
ment, that turned that knowledge to the very best account. 
He was not a lawyer by profession; but he understood 
thoroughly the constitution both of the mother country 
and of her colonies; and the elements also of the civil 
and municipal law. Thus, while his eloquence was free 
from those stiff* and technical restraints, which the habits 
of forensic speaking are so apt to generate, he had 
all the legal learning which is necessary to a statesman. 
He reasoned well, and declaimed freely and splendidly. 
The note of his voice was deeper and more melodious than 



50 SKETCHES OF THE 

that of Mr. Pendleton. It was the canorous voice* of 
Cicero. He had lost the use of one of his hands, which 
he kept constantly covered with a black silk bandage 
neatly fitted to the palm of his hand, but leaving his 
thumb free; yet, notwithstanding this disadvantage, his 
gesture was so graceful and so highly finished, that it 
was said he had acquired it by practising before a 
mirror.f Such was his promptitude, that he required 
no preparation for debate. He was ready for any sub- 
ject, as soon as it was announced; and his speech was 
so copious, so rich, so mellifluous, set off with such 
bewitching cadence of voice, and such captivating grace 
of action, that, while you listened to him, you desired to 
hear nothing superior, and indeed thought him perfect. 
He had a quick sensibility and a fervid imagination, 
which Mr. Pendleton wanted. Hence his orations 
were warmer and more delightfully interesting; yet still, 
to him those keys were not consigned, which could 
unlock the sources either of the strong or tender pas- 
sions. His defect was, that he was too smooth and too 
sweet. His style bore a striking resemblance to that of 
Herodotus, as described by the Roman orator: " he 
flowed on, like a quiet and placid river, without a rip- 
ple."! He flowed, too, through banks covered with all 
the fresh verdure and variegated bloom of the spring; 
but his course was too subdued, and too beautifully 
regular. A cataract, like that of Niagara, crowned 
with overhanging rocks and mountains, in all the rude 
and awful grandeur of nature, would have brought him 
nearer to the standard of Homer and of Henry. 

* Vox canora, see the Brutus, passim. 

| Edmund Randolph. 

4 Sine ullis salebris, quasi sedatus amnis, Jluit. Orat. XII. 39 



LIFE OF HENRY. 51 

These were some of the stars of first magnitude that 
shone in the house of burgesses in the year 1765. 
There was, yet, a cluster of minor luminaries, which it 
were endless to delineate, but whose blended rays con- 
tributed to form that uncommon galaxy, in which the 
plebeian Henry was now called upon to take his place. 
What had he to enable him to cope with all this lustre of 
talents and erudition ? Very little more than the native 
strength of his character; a constancy of soul, which no 
array of power could shake; a genius that designed with 
all the boldness of Angelo, and an imagination that 
coloured with all the felicity of Titian. 

It has been already stated that Mr. Henry was elected 
with express reference to an opposition to the stamp 
act. It was not, however, expected by his constituents, 
or meditated by himself, that he should lead the opposi- 
tion. The addresses of the preceding year, made to the 
king, lords, and commons, in which so strong a truth 
had been stated, as that the stamp act, if persisted in, 
would reduce the colony to a state of slavery, founded 
a hope, that those who had commenced the opposition 
by remonstrance, would continue to give it the eclat of 
their high names, by resistance of a bolder character, if 
bolder should be necessary. Mr. Henry waited, there- 
fore, to file in under the first champion that should raise 
the banner of colonial liberty. In the mean time an- 
other subject, unexpectedly, occurred to call him up, 
and it was on this other that he made his debut in the 
house. 

The incident has been stated to me in the following 
terms, by a gentleman who heard the debate* " The 

* Mr. Jefferson 



62 SKETCHES OF THE 

gentlemen of this country had, at that time, become 
deeply involved in that state of indebtment, which has 
since ended in so general a crush of their fortunes. 
Mr. Robinson, the speaker, was also the treasurer, an 
officer always chosen by the assembly. He was an ex- 
cellent man, liberal, friendly, and rich. He had been 
drawn in to lend, on his own account, great sums of 
money to persons of this description; and especially 
those who were of the assembly. He used freely for 
this purpose the public money, confiding for its replace- 
ment in his own means, and the securities he had taken 
on those loans. About this time, however, he became 
sensible that his deficit to the public was become so 
enormous, as that a discovery must soon take place, for 
as yet the public had no suspicion of it. He devised, 
therefore, with his friends in the assembly, a plan for a 
public loan office, to a certain amount, from which 
monies might be lent on public account, and on good 
landed security, to individuals. I find, in Royle's Vir- 
ginia Gazette of the 17 th of May, 1765, this proposition 
for a loan office presented, its advantages detailed, and 
the plan explained. It seems to have been done by a 
borrowing member, from the feeling with which the 
motives are expressed, and to have been preparatory to 
the intended motion. Between the 1 7th and 30th, (the 
latter being the date of Mr. Henry's resolutions on the 
stamp act,) the motion for a loan office was accordingly 
brought forward in the house of burgesses; and had it 
succeeded, the debts due to Robinson on these loans 
would have been transferred to the public, and his deficit 
thus completely covered. This state of things, how- 
ever, was not yet known: but Mr. Henry attacked the 
scheme on other general grounds, in that style of bold, 
grand, and overwhelming eloquence, for which he 



LIFE OF HENRY. 53 

became so justly celebrated afterward. I had been 
intimate with him from the year 1759-60, and felt an 
interest in what concerned him; and I can never forget 
a particular exclamation of his in the debate, which 
electrified his hearers. It had been urged, that, from 
certain unhappy circumstances of the colony, men of 
substantial property had contracted debts, which, if ex- 
acted suddenly, must ruin them and their families, but 
with a little indulgence of time, might be paid with ease. 
' What, sir/ exclaimed Mr. Henry, in animadverting 
on this, ' is it proposed then, to reclaim the spendthrift 
from his dissipation and extravagance, by filling his 
pockets with money?' These expressions are indelibly 
impressed on my memory. He laid open with so much 
energy the spirit of favouritism, on which the proposi- 
tion was founded, and the abuses to which it would 
lead, that it was crushed in its birth. He carried with 
him all the members of the upper counties, and left a mi- 
nority composed merely of the aristocracy of the country. 
From this time his popularity swelled apace; and Mr. 
Robinson dying the year afterwards, his deficit was 
brought to light, and discovered the true object of the 
proposition."* 

* In reply to this communication, I stated my surprise that no evidence of 
this motion was to be found on the journals of the day, and begged my cor- 
respondent to explain it, which he does very satisfactorily in the following 
terms: " Abortive motions are not always entered on the journals, or rather 
they are rarely entered. It is the modern introduction of yeas and nays 
which has given the means of placing a rejected motion on the journals : and 
it is likely that the speaker, who, as treasurer, was to be the loan officer, and 
had the direction of the journals, would choose to omit an entry of the mo- 
tion in this case. This accounts sufficiently for the absence of any trace of 
the motion on the journals. There was no suspicion then, (so far at least as 
I knew,) that Mr. Robinson had used the public money in private loans to his 
friends, and that the secret object of this scheme was to transfer those 
debtors to the public, and thus clear his accounts. I have diligently exa- 
mined the names of the members on the journals of 1764, to see if any were 
still living, to whose memory we might recur on this subject ; but I find not 



54 SKETCHES OF THE 

The exclamation above quoted by my correspondent 
as having electrified Mr. Henry's hearers, is a striking 
specimen of one of his great excellencies in speaking; 
which was, the power of condensing the substance of 
a long argument, into one short pithy question. The 
hearer was surprised, in finding himself brought so 
suddenly and so clearly to a just conclusion. He could 
scarcely conceive how it was effected; and could not 
fail to regard, with high admiration, the power of that 
intellect, which could come at its ends by so short a 
course; and work out its purposes with the quickness 
and certainty of magic. 

The aristocracy were startled at such a 'phenomenon 
from the plebeian ranks. They could not be otherwise 
than indignant at the presumption of an obscure and 
unpolished rustic, who, without asking the support or 
countenance of any patron among themselves, stood 
upon his own ground, and bearded them even in their 
den. That this rustic should have been able too, 
by his single strength, to baffle their whole phalanx 
and put it to rout, was a mortification too humiliating 
to be easily borne. They affected to ridicule his vicious 
and depraved pronunciation, the homespun coarseness 
of his language, and his hypocritical canting in relation 
to his humility and ignorance. But they could not help 
admiring and envying his wonderful gifts; that thorough 
knowledge of the human heart which he displayed; 
that power of throwing his reasoning into short and 
clear aphorisms; which, desultory as they were, supplied 
in a great degree the place of method and logic; that 
imagination so copious, poetic, and sublime; the irresist- 

a single one now remaining in life." This debate must have been in 1765, 
instead of 1764. The only surviving member of that year «b Paul Carring- 
ton, sen. esq. woo took his seat in the house after the debate in question. 



LIFE OF HENRY. 55 

Me power with which he caused every passion to rise 
at his bidding; and all the rugged might and majesty 
of his eloquence. From this moment, he had no friends 
on the aristocratic side of the house. They looked 
upon him with envy and with terror. They were 
forced at length to praise his genius; but that praise 
was wrung from them, with painful reluctance. They 
would have denied it, if they could. They would have 
overshadowed it; and did at first try to overshadow it, 
by magnifying his defects; but it would have been as 
easy for them to have eclipsed the splendour of the sun, 
by pointing to his spots. 

If, however, he had lost one side of the house by his 
undaunted manner of blowing up this aristocratic pro- 
ject, he had made the other side his fast friends. They 
had listened with admiration, unmixed with envy. Their 
souls had been struck with amazement and rapture, 
and thrilled with unspeakable sensations which they 
had never felt before. The man too, who had pro- 
duced these effects, was one of themselves. This was 
balm to them; for there is a wide difference between 
that distant admiration, which we pay as a tax, due to 
long-standing merit, in superior rank, and that throb- 
bing applause which rushes spontaneously and warm 
from the heart, towards a new man and an equal. 
There is always something of latent repining, approach- 
ing to resentment, mingled with that respect which is 
exacted from us by rank; and we feel a secret gratifi- 
cation in seeing it humbled. In the same proportion, 
we love the man who has given us this gratification, and 
avenged as it were, our own past indignities. Such 
was precisely the state of feeling which Mr. Henry 
produced, on the present occasion. The lower ranks 
of the house beheld and heard him with gratitude and 



56 SKETCHES OF THE 

veneration. They regarded him as a sturdy and wide 
spreading oak, beneath whose cool and refreshing shade 
they might take refuge from those beams of aristocracy, 
that had played upon them so long, with rather an 
unpleasant heat. 

After this victorious sally upon their party, the former 
leaders of the house were not very well disposed to 
look with a favourable eye on any proposition which he 
should make. They had less idea of contributing to 
foster the popularity and pamper the power of a man, 
who seemed born to be their scourge, and to drag down 
their ancient honours to the dust. It was in this un- 
propitious state of things, after having waited in vain 
for some step to be taken on the other side of the 
house, and when the session was within three days of 
its expected close, that Mr. Henry introduced his 
celebrated resolutions on the stamp act. 

I will not withhold from the reader a note of this 
transaction from the pen of Mr. Henry himself. It is 
a curiosity, and highly worthy of preservation. After his 
death, there was found among his papers one sealed, 
and thus endorsed: " Inclosed are the resolutions of the 
Virginia assembly in 1765, concerning the stamp act. 
Let my executors open this paper." Within was found 
the following copy of the resolutions, in Mr. Henry's 
hand-writing. 

Resolved, That the first adventurers and settlers of 
this, his majesty's colony and dominion, brought with 
them, and transmitted to their posterity, and all other 
his majesty's subjects, since inhabiting in this, his 
majesty's said colony, all the privileges, franchises, and 
immunities, that have at any time been held, enjoyed, 
and possessed, by the people of Great Britain. 

Resolved, That by two royal charters, granted by 



LIFE OP HENRY. 57 

king James the first, the colonists, aforesaid, are declared 
entitled to all the privileges, liberties, and immunities, 
of denizens and natural born subjects, to all intents and 
purposes, as if they had been abiding and born within 
the realm of England. 

" Resolved, That the taxation of the people by them- 
selves, or by persons chosen by themselves to represent 
them, who can only know what taxes the people are able 
to bear, and the easiest mode of raising them, and are 
equally affected by such taxes themselves, is the distin- 
guishing characteristic of British freedom, and without 
which the ancient constitution cannot subsist. 

" Resolved, That his majesty^s liege people of this 
most ancient colony, have uninterruptedly enjoyed the 
right of being thus governed by their own assembly in 
the article of their taxes and internal police, and that 
the same hath never been forfeited, or any other way 
given up, but hath been constantly recognized by the 
king and people of Great Britain. 

" Resolved, therefore, That the general assembly of 
this colony have the sole right and power to lay taxes 
and impositions upon the inhabitants of this colony; and 
that every attempt to vest such power in any person or 
persons whatsoever, other than the general assembly 
aforesaid, has a manifest tendency to destroy British as 
well as American freedom." 

On the back of the paper containing those resolutions, 
is the following endorsement, which is also in the hand- 
writing of Mr. Henry himself. " The within resolutions 
passed the house of burgesses in May, 1765. They 
formed the first opposition to the stamp act, and the 
scheme of taxing America by the British parliament. 
All the colonies, either through fear, or want of oppor- 
tunity to form an opposition, or from influence of some 

H 



58 SKETCHES OF THE 

kind or other, had remained silent. I had been for the 
first time elected a burgess, a few days before, was 
young, inexperienced, unacquainted with the forms of 
the house, and the members that composed it. Finding 
the men of weight averse to opposition, and the com- 
mencement of the tax at hand, and that no person was 
likely to step forth, I determined to venture, and alone, 
unadvised, and unassisted, on a blank leaf of an old law 
book* wrote the within. Upon offering them to the 
house, violent debates ensued. Many threats were 
uttered, and much abuse cast on me, by the party for 
submission. After a long and warm contest, the resolu- 
tions passed by a very small majority, perhaps of one or 
two only. The alarm spread throughout America with 
astonishing quickness, and the ministerial party were 
overwhelmed. The great point of resistance to British 
taxation was universally established in the colonies. 
This brought on the war, which finally separated the 
two countries, and gave independence to ours. Whether 
this will prove a blessing or a curse, will depend upon 
the use our people make of the blessings which a 
gracious God hath bestowed on us. If they are wise, 
they will be great and happy. If they are of a contrary 
character, they will be miserable. — Righteousness alone 
can exalt them as a nation. 

" Reader! whoever thou art, remember this; and in 
thy sphere, practise virtue thyself, and encourage it in 
others. — P. Henry." 

Such is the short, plain and modest account which 
Mr. Henry has left of this transaction. But other 
interesting particulars have been handed down by 
tradition, and live still in the recollection of one, at 

* Judge Tyler says, " an old Coke upon Littleton " 



LIFE OF HENRY. 59 

least, now in life as the reader will presently see by his 
own statement. 

The resolutions having been prepared in the manner 
which has been mentioned, were shown by Mr. Henry 
to two members only, before they were offered to the 
house; these were, John Fleming, a most respectable 
member for the county of Cumberland, and George 
Johnston, for that of Fairfax.* 

The reader will remark that the first four resolutions, 
as left by Mr. Henry, do little more than re-affirm the 
principles advanced in the address, memorial, and re- 
monstrance of the preceding year; that is, they deny the 
right assumed by the British parliament, and assert the 
exclusive right of the colony to tax itself. There is an 
important difference, however, between those state 
papers and the resolutions, in the point of time and the 
circumstances under which they were brought forward, 
for the address and other state papers were prepared 
before the stamp act had passed; they do nothing more, 
therefore, than call in question, by a course of respectful 
and submissive reasoning, the propriety of exercising 
the right, before it had been exercised; and they are, 
moreover, addressed to the legislature of Great Britain, 
by the way of prevention, and in a strain of decent 



* Judge Winston, on the authority of Mr. Henry himself. The report of 
the day, that Mr. Johnston drew the resolutions, is certainly unfounded. Mr. 
Johnston, now known only from the circumstance of his having seconded 
Mr. Henry's resolutions, is one of those many friends of liberty, who are 
sliding fast from the recollection of their country, and who deserve to be 
rescued from oblivion, by a more particular notice than it is in my power to 
bestow upon them. Of Mr. Johnston, I can learn only, that he was a lawyer 
in the Northern Neck, highly respectable in his profession ; a scholar, distin- 
guished for vigour of intellect, cogency of argument, firmness of character, 
love of order, and devotion to the cause of rational liberty — in short, exactly 
calculated by his love of the cause, and the broad and solid basis of his under- 
standing, to uphold the magnificent structure of Henry's eloquence. 



GO SKETCHES OF THE 

remonstrance and argument. But at the time when Mr. 
Henry offered his resolutions, the stamp act had passed; 
and the resolutions were intended for the people of the 
colonies. It will, also, be observed that the fifth resolu- 
tion, as given by Mr. Henry, contains the bold assertion, 
that every attempt to vest the power of taxation over the 
colonies, in any person or persons whatsoever, other 
than the general assembly, had a manifest tendency to 
destroy British, as well as American freedom; which 
was asserting in effect, that the act which had passed, 
was an encroachment on the rights and liberties of the 
people, and amounted to a direct charge of tyranny 
and despotism against the British king, lords, and 
commons. 

It is not wonderful that even the friends of colonial 
rights, who knew the feeble and defenceless situation 
of this country, should be startled at a step so bold and 
daring. That effect was produced; and the resolutions 
were resisted not only by the aristocracy of the house, 
but by many of those who were afterwards distin- 
guished among the brightest champions of American 
liberty. 

The following is Mr. Jefferson's account of this 
transaction. 

" Mr. Henry moved and Mr. Johnston seconded these 
resolutions successively. They were opposed by Messrs. 
Randolph, Bland, Pendleton, Wythe, and all the old 
members whose influence in the house had, till then, 
been unbroken. They did it, not from any question of 
our rights, but on the ground that the same sentiments 
had been, at their preceding session, expressed in a 
more conciliatory form, to which the answers were not 
yet received. But torrents of sublime eloquence from 
Henry, backed by the solid reasoning of Johnston, 



LIFE OF HENRY. 61 

prevailed. The last, however, and strongest resolution 
was carried but by a single vote. The debate on it was 
most bloody. I was then but a student, and stood at the 
door of communication between the house and the 
lobby (for as yet there was no gallery) during the whole 
debate and vote; and I well remember that, after the 
numbers on the division were told and declared from 
the chair, Peyton Randolph (the attorney-general) came 
out at the door where I was standing, and said as he en- 
tered the lobby, ' by God I would have given 500 guineas 
for a single vote-/ for one vote would have divided the 
house, and Robinson was in the chair, who he knew* 
would have negatived the resolution. Mr. Henry left 
town that evening; and the next morning before the 
meeting of the house, Col. Peter Randolph, then of 
the council, came to the hall of burgesses, and sat at the 
clerk's table till the house bell rang, thumbing over the 
volumes of journals, to find a precedent of expunging a 
vote of the house, which, he said, had taken place while 
he was a member or clerk of the house, I do not recol- 
lect which. I stood by him at the end of the table, a 
considerable part of the time, looking on, as he turned 
over the leaves; but I do not recollect whether he found 
the erasure. In the mean time, some of the timid mem- 
bers who had voted for the strongest resolution, had 
become alarmed; and as soon as the house met, a mo- 
tion was made and carried to expunge it from the jour- 
nals. There being at that day but one printer, and he 
entirely under control of the governor, I do not know 
that this resolution ever appeared in print. I write this 
from memory: but the impression made on me at the 
time was such as to fix the facts indelibly in my mind. 
I suppose the original journal was among those de- 
stroyed by the British, or its obliterated face might be 



62 SKETCHES OF THE 

appealed to. And here I will state that Burk's statement 
of Mr. Henry's consenting to withdraw two resolutions, 
by way of compromise with his opponents, is entirely 
erroneous." 

The manuscript journal of the day is not to be found; 
whether it was suppressed, or casually lost, must remain 
a matter of uncertainty; it disappeared, however, shortly 
after the session,* and therefore could not have been 
among the documents destroyed by the British dur- 
ing the revolutionary war, as conjectured by Mr. Jef- 
ferson. 

In the interesting fact of the erasure of the fifth 
resolution, Mr. Jefferson is supported by the distinct 
recollection of Mr. Paul Carrington, late a judge of the 
court of appeals of Virginia, and the only surviving 
member, it is believed, of the house of burgesses of 
1765. The statement is also confirmed, if indeed fur- 
ther confirmation were necessary, by the circumstance, 
that instead of the five resolutions, so solemnly recorded 
by Mr. Henry, as having passed the house, the journal 
of the day exhibits only the following four: 

Resolved, That the first adventurers and settlers of 
this his majesty's colony and dominion of Virginia, 
brought with them and transmitted to their posterity, 
and all others his majesty's subjects, since inhabit- 
ing in this his majesty's said colony, all the liberties, 
privileges, franchises, and immunities, that have at 
any time been held, enjoyed, and possessed, by the 
people of Great Britain. 

Resolved, That by two royal charters, granted by king 
James the I. the colonists aforesaid are declared entitled 

* "The manuscript journal was missing ten years before hostilities be- 
tween the two countries ; therefore could not have been destroyed, as you 
supposed probable." — Paul Carringtoit, senr. 



LIFE OF HENRY. 63 

to all liberties, privileges, and immunities of denizens 
and natural subjects to all intents and purposes, as if 
they had been abiding and born within the realm of 
England. 

Resolved, That the taxation of the people, by them- 
selves, or by persons chosen by themselves to represent 
them, who can only know what taxes the people are 
able to bear, or the easiest method of raising them; and 
must, themselves, be affected by every tax laid on the 
people, is the only security againsta burthensome tax- 
ation, and the distinguishing characteristic of British 
freedom, without which the ancient constitution cannot 
exist. 

Resolved, That his majesty's liege people of this his 
most ancient and loyal colony have, without interrup- 
tion, enjoyed the inestimable right of being governed 
by such laws respecting their internal polity and taxa- 
tion, as are derived from their own consent, with the 
approbation of their sovereign, or his substitute; and 
that the same hath never been forfeited or yielded up, 
but hath been constantly recognized by the kings and 
people of Great Britain* 

* Such are the resolutions, as they were amended and passed by the 
house, with the exception of that which was rescinded on the next day. 
Journals of 1765, page 150. Several historical mistakes have been commit- 
ted in relation to these resolutions. Judge Marshall, in his life of Washing- 
ton, (2d vol. note 4th, of the appendix,) gives an erroneous copy of them, 
from the book called Prior Documents ; in this, he is set right by the jour- 
nals : he represents six as having been offered, and two rejected ; his 
authority for this, again, is the Prior Documents : but he is contradicted by 
Mr. Henry himself, who represents five only as having been offered and 
past, and Mr. Henry's written statement accords with the clear and strong 
recollection both of Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Carrington. Mr. Burk gives the 
same erroneous copy with judge Marshall, and adds to them several mis- 
takes of his own : he says the resolutions passed, by a large majority, forty 
only having voted against them. Mr, Burk did not know the number of the 
members, or he would have known that a vote of forty, in the negative, 
would not have left a large majority in favour of the resolutions. But \vc 



64 SKETCHES OF THE 

" By these resolutions," says Mr. Jefferson, " and 
his manner of supporting them, Mr. Henry took the 
lead out of the hands of those who had, theretofore, 
guided the proceedings of the house; that is to say, of 
Pendleton, Wythe, Bland, Randolph." It was, indeed, 
the measure which raised him to the zenith of his glory. 
He had never before had a subject which entirely 
matched his genius, and was capable of drawing out all 
the powers of his mind. It was remarked of him, 
throughout his life, that his talents never failed to rise 
with the occasion, and in proportion with the resistance 
which he had to encounter. The nicety of the vote on 
his last resolution, proves that this was not a time to hold 
in reserve any part of his forces. It was, indeed, an 
alpine passage, under circumstances even more unpro- 
pitious than those of Hanibal; for he had not only to 
fight, hand to hand, the powerful party who were already 
in possession of the heights, but at the same instant 

have the authority of Mr. Henry himself, (as we have seen,) of Mr. Jefferson, 
and of Mr. Carrington, for saying - that the resolutions were carried by a 
majority of one only ,• on what authority Mr. Burk speaks we are not informed 
His whole account of Mr. Henry's proposal on the next day, to secede, and 
of his finally giving up two resolutions, for the sake of unanimity, is con- 
tradicted again by Mr. Henry, Mr. Jefferson, and Mr. Carrington; there is 
no such statement in the papers of the day, and the author does not conde- 
scend to give us his authority. Mr. Burk's skeleton of Mr. Henry's speech, 
on that occasion, is believed to be equally apocryphal; the author of these 
sketches has not been able to procure a single authentic trace of that speech, 
except the anecdote presently given in the text. Mr. Burk concludes his 
account of this affair, thus : " Struck with the alarming tendency of these 
proceedings, the governor suddenly dissolved the assembly, &c." Vol. 3d, 
page 310. In opposition to this statement, we are told by Mr. Henry himself, 
that when he offered his resolutions, the session was near its regular close ; 
and the journals prove the fact to have been so. Mr. Henry left town for 
home on the evening of the day on which his resolutions were adopted ; it 
was on the next day (consequently in his absence) that the motion to 
rescind was made; and the printed journals show that day and the day follow- 
ing to have been occupied with the usual business which closes a legislative 
session. 



LIFE OF HENRY. 65 

to cheer and animate the timid band of followers, that 
were trembling, and fainting, and drawing back, below 
him. It was an occasion that called upon Trim to put 
forth all his strength, and he did put it forth, in such a 
manner as man never did before. The cords of argu- 
ment, with which his adversaries frequently flattered 
themselves that they had bound him fast, became pack- 
threads in his hands. He burst them with as much 
ease, as the unshorn Sampson did the bands of the 
Philistines. He seized the pillars of the temple, shook 
them terribly, and seemed to threaten his opponents 
with ruin. It was an incessant storm of lightning and 
thunder, which struck them aghast. The faint-hearted 
gathered courage from his countenance, and cowards 
became heroes, while they gazed upon his exploits. 

It was in the midst of this magnificent debate, while 
he was descanting on the tyranny of the obnoxious act, 
that he exclaimed, in a voice of thunder, and with the 
look of a god, " Caesar had his Brutus — Charles the 
first, his Cromwell — and George the third — (' Trea- 
son/ cried the speaker — ' treason, treason/ echoed 
from every part of the house. — It was one of those try- 
ing moments which is decisive of character. — Henry 
faltered not for an instant; but rising to a loftier 
attitude, and fixing on the speaker an eye of the most 
determined fire, he finished his sentence with the 
firmest emphasis) may profit by their example. If this 
be treason, make the most of it."* 

* I had frequently heard the above anecdote of the cry of treason, but 
with such variations of the concluding words, that I began to doubt whether 
the whole might not be fiction. With a view to ascertain the truth, there- 
fore, I submitted it to Mr. Jefferson, as it had been given tome by judge 
Tyler, and this is his answer. " I well remember the cry of treason, the 
pause of Mr. Henry at the name of George the III. and the presence of mind 
with which he closed his sentence, and baffled the charge vociferated." 
The Incident, therefore, becomes authentic history. 

I 



66 SKETCHES OF THE 

This was the only expression of defiance which 
escaped him during the debate. He was, throughout 
life, one of the most perfectly and uniformly decorous 
speakers, that ever took the floor of the house. He was 
respectful even to humility; and the provocation must 
be gross, indeed, which would induce him to notice it. 
Yet when he did notice it, better were it for the man 
never to have been born than to fall into the hands of 
such an adversary. One lash from his scourge was 
infamy for life; his look of anger or contempt, was 
almost death. 

After this debate, there was no longer a question, 
among the body of the people, as to Mr. Henry's being 
the first statesman and orator in Virginia. Those, in- 
deed, whose ranks he had scattered, and whom he had 
thrown into the shade, still tried to brand him with the 
names of declaimer and demagogue. But this was ob- 
viously the effect of envy and mortified pride. A mere 
declaimer and demagogue could never have gained, 
much less have kept for more than thirty years, that 
ground which Mr. Henry held; with a people, too, so 
cool, judicious, firm, and virtuous, as those who achieved 
the American revolution. 

From the period of which we have been speaking, 
Mr. Henry became the idol of the people of Virginia; 
nor was his name confined to his native state. His light 
and heat were seen and felt throughout the continent; 
and he was every where regarded as the great cham- 
pion of colonial liberty. 

The impulse thus given by Virginia, was caught by 
the other colonies. Her resolutions were every where 
adopted, with progressive variations. The spirit of 
resistance became bolder and bolder, until the whole 
continent was in a flame; aud by the first of November, 



LIFE OF HENRY. 67 

when the stamp act was, according to its provisions, to 
have taken effect, its execution had become utterly 
impracticable.* 

* The chronicles of the day exhibit, in a manner very curious and inter- 
esting - , the progress of these feelings. We have already given a specimen 
of the drooping spirit of the Pennsylvania Gazette, on the first annunciation 
of the stamp act ; but after Mr. Henry had touched, with his match, the 
train of American courage, its scintillations were seen, sparkling and flash- 
ing, on every page of this paper. Thus in the paper of June 20th, 1775 — 
" We learn from the northward, that the stamp act is to take place in Ame- 
rica on All Saints' day, the first of November next. — In the year 1755, on 
the 1st of November, happened that dreadful and memorable earthquake ; 
which destroyed the city of Lisbon." 



68 SKETCHES OF THE 



SECTION III. 

At the opening of the next session, the speaker an- 
nounced the repeal of the stamp act; and the house of 
burgesses, in a paroxysm of feeling, voted a statue to 
the king, and an obelisk to the British patriots by whose 
exertions the repeal had been effected. But before 
these monuments of national gratitude could be executed 
the effervescence subsided; and on the 9th of December, 
1766, the bill which had been prepared for that purpose, 
was postponed to the first day of the next session; after 
which, we hear of it no more. 

At the session of 1 766, a question of great interest in 
those days, and one of real importance to the colony, 
came on to be discussed in the house of burgesses. Mr. 
Robinson, who had so long held the joint offices of 
speaker and treasurer, was now dead. The general 
fact of his delinquency as treasurer was understood, 
although the sum was not yet ascertained; and that 
delinquency, whatever it might be, was alleged to have 
arisen principally from loans made to members of the 
house of burgesses. As the speaker, although elected 
in the first instance by the house, could not act until 
approved by the governor, and when so approved, was 
in office for seven years, re-eligible indefinitely — and as, 
in the recent instance of Mr. Robinson, it had been dis- 
covered, that an office so held was too apt to generate 
a devotion to the purposes of the British court — it was 
considered by the patriots in the house, as a measure 
of sound policy, to take out of the hands of the speaker 
so formidable an engine of corruption and power, as the 



LIFE OP HENRY. 69 

treasury of the colony.* A motion was therefore made 
to separate the office of treasurer from the speaker's 
chair, which was supported by Mr. Henry with his 
usual ability. An arduous struggle ensued. Innovations, 
however correct in themselves, never fail to startle 
those who have grown grey in a veneration for the 
existing order of things. They fancy that they see in 
every important change an indirect blow at the esta- 
blished government, and at the foundations of their own 
property. This union of the speaker's chair with the 
office of treasurer, was one of those errors in policy 
which time had consecrated, and it required a hand 
both steady and skilful to remove the veil and expose 
its deformity. That hand was furnished by Mr. Henry. 
The union of boldness and decency which composed his 
character, of decisive energy in the support of his own 
opinions, and respectful tenderness towards those of 
others, fitted him peculiarly for the discharge of this 
duty. The house admired on this occasion, the facility 
with which he could adapt himself to any subject. He 
had that foundation of strong natural sense, without 
which genius is a misfortune; an instinctive accuracy 
of judgment, which always proportioned his efforts to 
the occasion. He was never guilty of the ridiculous 
and common error amongst young members, of at- 
tempting to force the subject beyond its nature — of 



* A correspondent furnishes the following - note on this passage: — "There 
was but one clear and sound bottom on which the separation of the chair and 
the treasury was decided. The legislature made all the levies of money pay- 
able into the hands of their speaker, over whom they had control. The only 
hold the governor had on him was, a negative on his appointment as 
speaker at every new election, which amounted, consequently, to a nega- 
tive on him as treasurer, and disposed him, so far, to be obsequious to the 
governor." 



70 SKETCHES OF THE 

swelling trifles into consequence, and working the ocean 
into tempest, 

" To waft a feather, or to drown a fly." 

It is almost superfluous to add, that such a cause, in the 
hands of such an advocate, did not fail of success. The 
motion for separating the two offices being carried, a 
committee was appointed to examine the accounts 
of the late treasurer, and their report disclosed 
an enormous deficit, exceeding an hundred thousand 
pounds. 

On the . separation of the offices of speaker and 
treasurer, Peyton Randolph, the attorney-general, was 
elected to the chair; and Robert C. Nicholas, an emi- 
nent lawyer and a most virtuous man, to the office of 
treasurer. 

After having tried his strength for several years on 
the legislative floor, against some of the brightest cham- 
pions of the bar, Mr. Henry came, in the year 1769, to 
the bar itself of the general court. " The profits of his 
practice theretofore, (says my informant,) must have been 
very moderate. For, about this time, he informed me 
that he thought his property was not worth more than 
fifteen hundred pounds; adding that, if he could only 
make it double that sum, he should be entirely con- 
tent/'* 

At this bar, he entered into competition with all the 
first legal characters in the colony, some of whom had 
been educated at the Temple. Mr. Pendleton and Mr. 
Wythe have been already mentioned: but in addition 
to these he had to encounter Mr. John Randolph, 
Mr. Thompson Mason, Mr. Robert C. Nicholas, Mr. 

* Judge Winston. 



LIFE OF HENRY. 71 

Mercer, Mr. Blair, and Mr. Jefferson; all of them mas- 
ters of the learning of their profession, and all of them 
men of pre-eminent abilities. 

It cannot be expected from Mr. Henry's legal prepa- 
ration, that he was able to contend with these gentlemen 
on a mere question of law. He wanted that learning, 
whose place no splendour of genius can supply to the 
lawyer; and he wanted those habits of steady and per- 
severing application, without which that learning is 
not to be acquired. It is said, indeed, that he was 
wofully deficient as a lawyer; so little acquainted with 
the fundamental principles of his profession, and so little 
skilled in that system of artificial reasoning on which 
the common law is built, as not to be able to see the 
remote bearings of the reported cases; and hence, it has 
been said, that it happened with him not unfrequently, 
whenever he did attempt to argue a question of law, to 
furnish authorities destructive to his own cause. Yet 
he never did and never could vanquish his aversion to 
the systematic study of the law. On questions turning 
on the laws of nations, and even on the maritime law, 
whose basis is natural reason and justice, his vigour of 
mind made him occasionally veiy great. One of my 
correspondents, for example, relates to me an instance 
of his appearing in the court of admiralty, under the 
regal government, in behalf of a Spanish captain, whose 
vessel and cargo had been libelled, A gentleman, who 
was present, and who was very well qualified to judge, 
was heard to declare, after the trial was over, that he 
never heard a more eloquent or argumentative speech 
in his life; that Mr. Henry was, on that occasion, greatly 
superior to Mr. Pendleton, Mr. Mason, or any other 
counsel who spoke to the subject; and that he was 
astonished how Mr. Henry could have acquired such a 



72 SKETCHES OF THE 

knowledge of the maritime law, to which, it was be- 
lieved, he had never before turned his attention. 

But this special preparation on a given subject, and 
that subject, too, depending on the liberal and equitable 
principles of the maritime law, is not at all at variance 
with the report of his inefficiency, on questions to be 
decided by the common law merely. The power of 
arguing questions of the latter description to advantage 
requires the mind, in the first place, to be deeply im- 
bued with that peculiar spirit of reasoning which reigns 
throughout the whole system of the common law; and, 
in the next, it requires a cool and clear accuracy of 
thinking, and an elaborate exactness and nicety in the 
deduction of thought, to which Mr. Henry's early and 
inveterate habits of indolence, as well as the sublime 
and excursive fervour of his genius, were altogether 
hostile. 

It was on questions before a jury, that he was in his 
natural element. There, his intimate knowledge of 
human nature, and the rapidity as well as justness of 
his inferences, from the flitting expressions of the coun- 
tenance, as to what was passing in the hearts of his 
hearers, availed him fully. The jury might be com- 
posed of entire strangers, yet he rarely failed to know 
them, man by man, before the evidence was closed. 
There was no studied fixture of features, that could 
long hide the character from his piercing and expe- 
rienced view. The slightest unguarded turn of counte- 
nance, or motion of the eye, let him at once into the soul 
of the man whom he was observing. Or, if he doubted 
whether his conclusions were correct, from the exhi- 
bitions of countenance during the narration of the 
evidence, he had a mode of playing a prelude as it 
were upon the jury, in his exordium, which never failed 



LIFE OF HENRY. 73 

to " wake into life each silent string," and show him the 
whole compass as well as pitch of the instrument; and, 
indeed, (if we may believe all the concurrent accounts 
of his exhibitions in the general court,) the most ex- 
quisite performer that ever " swept the sounding lyre," 
had not a more sovereign mastery over its powers, than 
Mr. Henry had oyer the springs of feeling and thought 
that belong to a jury. There was a delicacy, a taste, a 
felicity in his touch, that was perfectly original, and 
without a rival. His style of address, on these occa- 
sions, is said to have resembled very much that of the 
scriptures. It was strongly marked with the same sim- 
plicity, the same energy, the same pathos. He sounded 
no alarm ; he made no parade, to put the jury on their 
guard. It was all so natural, so humble, so unassuming, 
that they were carried imperceptibly along, and attuned 
to his purpose, until some master touch dissolved them 
into tears. His language of passion was perfect. There 
was no word " of learned length or thundering sound," 
to break the charm. It had almost all the stillness of 
solitary thinking. It was a sweet reverie, a delicious 
trance. His voice, too, had a wonderful effect. He 
had a singular power of infusing it into a jury, and 
mixing its notes with their nerves, in a manner which it 
is impossible to describe justly; but which produced a 
thrilling excitement, in the happiest concordance with 
his designs. No man knew so well as he did what kind 
of topics to urge to their understandings; nor what kind 
of simple imagery to present to their hearts. His eye, 
which he kept rivetted upon them, assisted the process 
of fascination, and at the same time informed him what 
theme to press, or at what instant to retreat, if by rare 
accident he touched an unpropitious string. And then 
he had such an exuberance of appropriate thoughts, of 

K 



74 SKETCHES OF THE 

apt illustrations, of apposite images, and such a melodious 
and varied roll of the happiest words, that the hearer was 
never wearied by repetition, and never winced from an 
apprehension that the intellectual treasures of the speaker 
would be exhausted.* 

The defence of criminal causes was his great profes- 
sional forte. It seems that the eighth day of the general 
court was formerly set apart for criminal business. Mr. 
Henry made little or no figure, during the civil days of 
the court; but on the eighth day he was the monarch of 
the bar. These causes brought him into direct collision 
with Mr. John Randolph, who had now succeeded 
Peyton as the attorney-general. 

Mr. Randolph, it has been remarked, was, in person 
and manners, among the most elegant gentlemen in the 
colony, and in his profession one of the most splendid 
ornaments of the bar. He was a polite scholar, as well 
as a profound lawyer, and his eloquence also was of a 



* A striking example of this witchery of his eloquence, even on common 
subjects, was related by a very respectable gentleman, the late major Joseph 
Scott, the marshal of this state. This gentleman had been summoned, at 
great inconvenience to his private affairs, to attend as a witness a distant 
court, in which Mr. Henry practised. The cause which had carried him 
thither having been disposed of, he was setting out in great haste to return, 
when the sheriff summoned him to serve on a jury. This cause was repre- 
sented as a complicated and important one ; so important, as to have enlisted 
in it all the most eminent members of the bar. He was therefore alarmed at 
the prospect of a long detention, and made an unavailing effort with the 
court to get himself discharged from the jury. He was compelled to take 
his seat. When his patience had been nearly exhausted by the previous 
speakers, Mr. Henry rose to conclude the cause, and having much matter to 
answer, the major stated that he considered himself a prisoner for the even- 
ing, if not for the night. But, to his surprise, Mr. Henry appeared to have 
consumed not more than fifteen minutes in the reply; and he would scarcely 
believe his own watch, or those of the other jurymen, when they informed 
him that he had in reality been speaking upwards of two hours. So powerful 
was the charm by which he could bind the senses of his hearers, and make 
even the most impatient unconscious of the lapse of time. 



LIFE OF HENRY. 75 

high order. His voice, action, style, were stately, and 
uncommonly impressive; but gigantic as he was in rela- 
tion to other men, he was but a pigmy, when opposed in 
a criminal trial to the arch magician, Heniy. In those 
cases Mr. Henry was perfectly irresistible. He adapted 
himself, without effort, to the character of the cause; 
seized, with the quickness of intuition, its defensible 
point, and never permitted the jury to lose sight of it. 
Sir Joshua Reynolds has said of Titian, that, by a few 
strokes of his pencil, he knew how to mark the image 
and character of whatever object he attempted; and 
produced by this means a truer representation than any 
of his predecessors, who finished every hair. In like 
manner, Mr. Henry, by a few master strokes upon the 
evidence, could in general stamp upon the cause what- 
ever image or character he pleased; and convert it into 
tragedy or comedy, at his sovereign will, and with a 
power which no efforts of his adversary could counteract. 
x He never wearied the jury by a dry and minute analysis 
of the evidence; he did not expend his strength in 
■finishing tlie hairs; he produced all his high effect by 
those rare master touches, and by the resistless skill, 
with which, in a very few words, he could mould and 
colour the prominent facts of a cause to his purpose. 
He had wonderful address, too, in leading off the minds 
of his hearers from the contemplation of unfavourable 
points, if at any time they were too stubborn to yield to 
his power of transformation. He beguiled the hearer 
so far from them, as to diminish them by distance, and 
soften, if not entirely cast into shade, their too strong 
natural colours. At this distance, too, he had a better 
opportunity of throwing upon them a false light, by an 
apparently casual ray of refraction from other points in 
the evidence, whose powers no man better knew how 



76 SKETCHES OF THE 

to array and concentrate, in order to disguise or eclipse 
an obnoxious fact. It required a mind of uncommon 
vigilance;, and most intractable temper, to resist this 
charm with which he decoyed away his hearers; it 
demanded a rapidity of penetration, which is rarely, if 
ever, to be found in the jury box, to detect the intellectual 
juggle by which he spread his nets around them; it 
called for a stubbornness and obduracy of soul which 
does not exist, to sit unmoved under the pictures of 
horror or of pity, which started from his canvass. They 
might resolve, if they pleased, to decide the cause against 
him, and to disregard every thing which he could urge in 
the defence of his client. But it was all in vain. Some 
feint in an unexpected direction, threw them off their 
guard, and they were gone; some happy phrase, burning 
from the soul; some image fresh from nature's mint, and 
bearing her own beautiful and genuine impress, struck 
them with delightful surprise, and melted them into 
conciliation; and conciliation towards Mr. Henry was 
victory inevitable. In short, he understood the human 
character so perfectly ; knew so well all its strength and 
all its weaknesses, together with every path and by-way 
which winds around to the citadel of the best fortified 
heart and mind, that he never failed to take them, either 
by stratagem or storm. Hence he was, beyond doubt, 
the ablest defender of criminals in Virginia, and will 
probably never be equalled again. 

It has been observed, that Mr. Henry's knowledge of 
the common law was extremely defective; but his attend- 
ance upon the general court was calculated to cure that 
defect, in a considerable degree. All legal questions, of 
magnitude or difficulty, came before that tribunal, either 
originally, or by appeal; and he had continual oppor- 
tunities of hearing them discussed in the ablest manner, 



LIFE OF HENRY. 77 

by the brightest luminaries of the American bar. His 
was a mind on which nothing was lost; on which no 
useful seed could be cast, without shooting into all the 
luxuriance of which its nature was susceptible. Thus 
improving every hint, and ramifying every principle 
which was brought into his view, there is reason to 
believe that a few years must have made him not only a 
master of the general canons of property, but of the 
modifications and exceptions of more frequent occur- 
rence, by which those canons are restrained and govern- 
ed. In support of this conclusion, I find that in January 
1773, Robert C. Nicholas, who had enjoyed the first 
practice at the bar, and who, by virtue of his office of 
treasurer, was forced to relinquish that practice, com- 
mitted, by a public advertisement, his unfinished busi- 
ness to Mr. Henry; a step which a man so remarkably 
scrupulous in the discharge of every moral duty, would 
not have taken, had there been any incompetency on 
the part of his substitute. 

The British ministry, however, did not permit Mr. 
Henry to waste himself in forensic exertions. The joy 
of the Americans, on the repeal of the stamp act, was 
very short-lived. That measure had not been, on the 
part of the British parliament, a voluntary sacrifice to 
truth and right. The ministry and their friends dis- 
avowed this ground; and were forward, on every 
occasion, to convince the colonies that they had nothing 
to expect, either from the clemency or the magnanimity 
of the British cabinet. Thus on a question of supplies 
for the army in the session of parliament of 1766-7, a 
motion was made in the house of commons, that the 
revenues arising and to arise in America, be applied to 
subsisting the troops now there, and those other regi- 
ments ivhich it is proposed to send; in support of which, 



78 SKETCHES OF THE 

that brilliant political meteor, Charles Townsend, 
urged, among other things, " the propriety of more 
troops being sent to America, and of their being quar- 
tered in tJie large towns. He said that he had a plan 
preparing, which he would lay before the house, for the 
raising of supplies in America. That the legislative 
authority of Great Britain extended to every colony, 
in every particular. That the distinction, between 
internal and external taxes, was nonsense; and that he 
voted for the repeal of the stamp act, not because it was 
not a good act, but because, at that time, there appeared 
a propriety in repealing it. He added, that he repeated 
the sentence, that the galleries might hear him, and after 
that, he did not expect to have his statue erected in 
America: in all which, Mr. Grenville joined him fully." 

This temper soon manifested itself in open acts, and 
turned the late joy of the colonies into mourning. 

The first obnoxious measure was a stern demand of 
satisfaction, from the legislatures of the colonies, for the 
injuries which had been done to the stamp officers and 
their adherents. The legislature of Massachusetts, of 
whom this demand was first made, very respectfully, 
and with good reason questioned the propriety and 
justice of taxing the whole colony, for the excesses of 
a few individuals, which they had neither prompted nor 
approved; for the sake of peace, however, and in the 
spirit of accommodation, that satisfaction was given; but 
they annexed to their vote of satisfaction, a grant of 
pardon to the rioters; and in England, according to 
the usual courtesy of that country, nothing was said of 
the satisfaction, while the pardon was treated as a 
most insolent and impudent usurpation of the royal 
authority. 

The next step was that suggested by Mr. Townsend, 



LIFE OF HENRY. 79 

of quartering large bodies of troops upon the chief towns 
in the colonies, and demanding of the several colonial 
legislatures a provision for their comfortable support 
and accommodation. A measure more replete with 
exasperation could scarcely have been devised. The 
very presence of those myrmidons was an insult; for it 
was a direct, reflection on the fidelity of the colonists. 
Their object was perfectly understood: it was to curb 
the just and honourable spirit of the people; to dragoon 
them into submission to the parliamentary claim of 
taxation, and reduce them to the condition of vassals, 
governed by the right of conquest. The rudeness of 
the soldiery, too, was well calculated to keep up and in- 
crease the irritation, which their presence alone would 
have been sufficient to excite. In Boston, they were in 
the habit of stopping the most respectable citizens in 
the streets, and compelling them to answer insulting 
enquiries, or committing them to confinement on their 
refusal, assigning, as the ground of their conduct, that 
the town was a garrisoned town. In New York, 
they provoked a contest with the people by making 
war upon a liberty pole, which was the first object 
of their earthly devotions, and which the soldiers con- 
tinually destroyed or attempted to destroy, as soon 
as it could be replaced. And as if all this insult and 
humiliation were not enough, the colonies were to be 
constrained to tax themselves, to foster and cherish 
those instruments of their degradation. 

The legislature of New York, in a tone, at least 
sufficiently submissive for the occasion, and on the false 
ground of the inability of the colony, begged to be ex- 
cused from making the provision. For this high offence, 
the legislative power of that colony was abolished by 
act of parliament, until they should submit to make 



80 SKETCHES OF THE 

the provision which was required: and they did 
submit. 

A body of British troops alleged to have been driven 
by stress of weather into Boston, in the recess of the 
colonial legislature, had been provided for out of the 
public monies, by the governor and his council. The 
legislature met shortly afterwards, and remonstrated 
against this unconstitutional appropriation, with that 
Roman firmness and dignity, which marked the charac- 
ter of Massachusetts in every stage of the contest. But 
governor Bernard, highly indignant at what he affected 
to consider as presumption, made such a communica- 
tion upon the subject to the British court, as could have 
had, and could have been designed to have no other 
effect, than to widen the breach, and inflame more 
highly those animosities, which already required no 
new aggravation. 

These military preparations were well understood 
to be the harbingers of some unconstitutional act, the 
execution of which they were necessary to enforce. 
Why those preparations were restricted to the northern 
states, and more particularly to Massachusetts, has never 
been satisfactorily explained. There was no colony 
which resisted, with more firmness and constancy, the 
pretensions of the British parliament than that of Virgi- 
nia; yet no military force was thought necessary, during 
the lives of the governors Fauquier and Bottetourt, to 
keep down the spirit of rebellion in this colony. A 
solution of the difficulty may perhaps be found, in the 
character of the different governors. Virginia had the 
good fortune, during this period, to be governed by 
enlightened and amiable men, who saw and did justice 
to the motives and measure of resistance which was 
meditated; who were both able and willing to distinguish 



life of Henry* 81 

between reason and force, between remonstrance and 
rebellion; who perceived with pleasure, the spirit of 
genuine and unaffected loyalty and affection for the 
parent country, which mingled itself with every com- 
plaint; and who, in their communications to the British 
court, were disposed rather "to extenuate," than " to set 
down aught in malice." Whereas Bernard, the governor 
of Massachusetts, was the fit instrument and apt re- 
presentative of the masters whom he served: for he had 
all their pride and unfeeling insolence, and seems to 
have enjoyed a kind of fiend-like pleasure, in rendering 
his province hateful at home, by the most virulent 
misrepresentations; and in drawing down upon her, 
the accumulated curses and oppressions of the parent 
country.* 

These preparatory steps having been taken, an act 
of parliament was passed, imposing certain duties on 
glass, white and red lead, painters' colours, tea, and 
paper imported into the colonies. This act was to take 
effect on the 20th of November, 1767; and to ensure its 
operation, another act authorized the king to appoint a 
board of trade to reside in the colonies, and to instruct 
them, at his pleasure and without limit, as to the mode 
of executing their duties under this law. A commis- 
sion accordingly issued, by which the commissioners 
were armed with a power of search and seizure, at their 



* Extract of a letter, dated London, June 5, 1770. " The people of Eng- 
land now curse governor Bernard, as bitterly as those of America. Bernard 
was drove out of the Smyrna coffee-house not many days since, by general 
Oglethorpe, who told him he was a dirty, factious scoundrel, and smelled 
cursed strong of the hangman ; that he had better leave the room, as unwor- 
thy to mix with gentlemen of character, but that he would give him, the 
satisfaction of following him to the door, had die anything to reply. The 
governor left the house like a guilty coward." Pennsylvania Gazette. 
August 30th, 1770. 

L 



82 SKETCHES OF THE 

discretion; with authority to call for aid upon the naval 
and military establishments within the colony; and with 
an exemption from prosecution or responsibility before 
any of the king's courts, for whatsoever they might do, 
by any construction of their commission. 

Another measure which gave great offence to the 
colonies was, the establishment of a board of admiralty, 
with extensive powers, supported by large salaries in- 
dependent of the colonies, yet drawn from the revenues 
compulsorily levied upon them ; and the appointment, 
also, of common law judges, to be paid by the crown out 
of the revenues of the colony, and to hold their offices 
during the king's pleasure. 

To all these outrages the legislatures of the colonies 
answered by petitions, memorials, remonstrances, and 
letters, addressed to the friends of colonial liberty in 
England; blending, with the strongest professions of 
loyalty, the expression of their hope, that those obnoxious 
measures would be reconsidered and reversed, and the 
colonies protected in their ancient and unalienable 
rights. In reply they received from the kindest of 
their English friends, only exhortations to patience 
under their sufferings; by the court party, menaces and 
anathemas were brandished over their heads; and the 
commissioners of the revenue, together with their 
auxiliaries, the naval and military officers and soldiery, 
continued to outrage and insult them, both in their 
persons and property. 

The people of Massachusetts, with the view of frus- 
trating the new revenue bill, entered into an associa- 
tion, by which they bound themselves not to import from 
Great Britain, or use any of the articles taxed; and 
included in the resolution every article of British manu- 
facture which was not of the first and most indispensa- 



LIFE OF HENRY. 83 

ble necessity. The legislature of that state also resolved 
on a circular letter to their sister colonies, inviting 
their concurrence and co-operation towards procuring 
relief, in a constitutional way, from the grievances 
under which they were all suffering. This measure 
having been reported by governor Bernard, with his 
usual embellishments, to the earl of Hilsborough, the 
British minister for the American department, that 
minister required the governor to demand of the legis- 
lature an immediate rescission of their resolution, on pain 
of being forthwith dissolved. They refused to rescind, 
and were dissolved accordingly. The same minister 
also addressed a circular letter to the governors of the 
other colonies, exhorting them to crush this correspond- 
ence and concert amongst the colonial legislatures in the 
bud, by exacting from them an assurance that they 
would not answer the circular of Massachusetts. They 
refused to give such assurance, and were in their turn 
dissolved. 

These violent measures, however, produced an effect 
very different from that which was expected to flow 
from them. The dissolution of their legislatures swelled 
the catalogue of their wrongs, and ministered additional 
fuel to the resentments of the people. The non- 
importation agreement became general: and, by means 
of committees established in the several colonies, its ex- 
ecution was guarded with a vigilance which could not 
be eluded. A breach of it was infamy, inevitable and 
unpardonable. Its observance was a badge of honour, by 
which the patriot colonist was proud to be distinguished. 
The privation was, indeed, in many respects severe, 
but the sufferers were upheld by that kind of holy 
fortitude, which enabled the Christian martyrs to smile 
amidst the flames, and to triumph, even in the agonies of 



81 SKETCHES OF THE 

death. Eveiy grade of society, all ages, and both sexes, 
kindled in this sacred competition of patriotism. The 
ladies of the colonies, in the dawn and throughout the 
whole progress of the revolution, shone with pre-emi- 
nent lustre in this war of fortitude and self-denial. They 
renounced, without a sigh, the use of the luxuries and 
even of the comforts to which they had been accustom- 
ed; and felt a nobler pride in appearing dressed in the 
simple productions of their own looms, than they had 
ever experienced from glittering in the brightest orna- 
ments of the east. 

The British court looked upon this trial of virtuous 
fortitude with surly and inexorable rigour. They seemed 
determined to carry the point, at every hazard. The 
sufferings of their own merchants and manufacturers 
were forgotten, in the barbarous pleasure with which 
they contemplated the sufferings of the colonists. It is 
not in human nature to continue long to return good 
for evil, affection for cruelty. The admiration and 
devotion of the colonies for the parent country became 
gradually weaker. This transition of feeling is most 
interestingly marked in the chronicles of the day. The 
epithets, " our kind and indulgent mother," with which 
she was wont to be greeted, were progressively changed 
into "unnatural parent — cruel stepmother — proud, mer- 
ciless oppressor — haughty, unfeeling, and unrelenting 
tyrant." This state of feeling was aggravated by the 
collisions which were perpetually occurring between the 
king's soldiery and the people of the towns in which 
they were quartered. The streets of New York and of 
Boston were the theatres of continual riots, ending 
almost invariably in blood, and not unfrequently in death. 
The newspapers of the day teem with the detail of 
scenes of this sort; and from the effect which they 



LIFE OF HENRY 85 

produce on the reader at this distance of time, it is 
not very difficult to conceive what must have been their 
operation on the people of that day, already goaded to 
madness by previous injuries. 

It is not my purpose to record the series of measures 
which led to the dismemberment of the British empire. 
This is the function of the historian. My business is 
only with Mr. Henry; and, for my purpose, nothing 
more is necessary than to recall the general character 
of the contest, for the purpose of showing the part which 
he bore in it. The revolution may be truly said to have 
commenced with his resolutions in 1765. From that 
period not an hour of settled peace had existed between 
the two countries. It is true, that the eruption produced 
by the stamp act had subsided with its repeal; and the 
people had resumed their ancient settlements and occu- 
pations; but there was no peace of the heart or of the 
mind. The rumbling of the volcano was still audible, 
and the smoke of the crater continually ascended, 
mingled not unfrequently with those flames and masses 
of ignited matter, which announced a new and more 
terrible explosion. 

These were " the times that tried the souls of men;" 
and never, in any country or in any age, did there 
exist a race of men, whose souls were better fitted to 
endure the trial. Patient in suffering, firm in adversity, 
calm and collected amid the dangers which pressed 
around them, cool in council, and brave in battle, they 
were worthy of the cause, and the cause was worthy of 
them. 

The house of burgesses of Virginia, which had led 
the opposition to the stamp act, kept their high ground 
during the whole of the ensuing contest. Mr. Henry, 
having removed again from Louisa to his native county. 



86 SKETCHES OF THE 

in the year 1767 or 1768, continued a member of the 
public councils till the close of the revolution; and there 
could be no want of boldness in any body, of which he 
was a member. The session of 1768-9 was marked 
by a set of resolutions so strong as to have excited even 
the amiable and popular Bottetourt to displeasure. By 
those resolutions they re-asserted, in the most emphatic 
terms, the exclusive right of the colony to tax themselves 
in all cases whatever; complained of the recent acts of 
parliament, as so many violations of the British constitu- 
tion; and remonstrated, vigorously, against the right of 
transporting the free-born subjects of these colonies to 
England, to take their trial before prejudiced tribunals, 
for offences alleged to be committed in the colonies. 
The tradition with regard to these resolutions is, that 
they were agreed to in a committee of the whole on 
one day, but not reported to the house, with the view of 
preventing their appearance on the journal of the next 
day, before they could be completely passed through the 
forms of the house; apprehending, from the fate of the 
Massachusetts legislature, that a knowledge of these 
resolutions on the part of the governor, would produce 
an immediate dissolution of the house. When the house 
rose for the evening, however, the fact of their having 
passed such resolutions was whispered to the governor; 
and he endeavoured in vain to procure a copy of them 
from the clerk.* On the next day the house, foreseeing 
the event, met on the instant of the ringing of the 
bell, and with closed doors received the report of their 
resolutions, considered, adopted, and ordered them to 
be entered upon their journals; which they had scarcely 
done, when they were summoned to attend the governor, 
z.n& were dissolved, " Mr. Speaker," said he, " and 

* Mr. Wythe. 



LIFE OP HENRY. 87 

gentlemen of the house of representatives, I have heard 
of your resolves, and augur ill of their effects; you have 
made it my duty to dissolve you, and you are accordingly 
dissolved." 

But the dissolution of the house of burgesses did not 
change the materials of which it had been composed. 
The same members were re-elected without a single 
exception, and the same determined spirit of resistance 
continued to diffuse itself from the legislature over 
the colony which they represented, and to animate by 
sympathy the neighbouring colonies. This house had the 
merit of originating that powerful engine of resistance, 
corresponding committees between the legislatures of the 
different colonies.* The measure was brought forward 
by Mr. Dabney Carr, a new member from the county of 
Louisa, in a committee of the whole house, on the 12th of 
March, 1773; and the resolutions, as adopted, now stood 
upon the journals of the day, in the following terms: 

" Whereas the minds of his majesty's faithful subjects 
in this colony have been much disturbed, by various 
rumours, and reports of proceedings, tending to deprive 
them of their ancient, legal, and constitutional rights. 

" And whereas the affairs of this colony are frequently 
connected with those of Great Britain, as well as the 
neighbouring colonies, which renders a communication 
of sentiments necessary; in order, therefore, to remove 
the uneasiness, and to quiet the minds of the people, as 
well as for the other good purposes above mentioned: 

* The state of Massachusetts is eutitled to equal honour : the measures 
were so nearly coeval in the two states, as to render it impossible that either 
could have borrowed it from the other. The messengers, who bore the 
propositions from the two states, are said to have crossed each other on the 
way. This is Mr. Jefferson's account of it ; and Mrs. Warren, in her very 
iitte resting history of the revolution, admits, that the measure was original 
on the part of Virginia. See the note to page 110, of her first volume. 



88 SKETCHES OF THE 

" Be it resolved, That a standing committee of 
correspondence and enquiry be appointed, to consist 
of eleven persons, to wit : the honourable Peyton 
Randolph, esquire, Robert C. Nicholas, Richard 
Bland, Richard H. Lee, Benjamin Harrison, Edmund 
Pendleton, Patrick Henry, Dudley Digges, Dabney 
Carr, Archibald Cary, and Thomas Jefferson, esquires, 
any six of whom to be a committee, whose business it 
shall be to obtain the most early and authentic intelligence 
of all such acts and resolutions of the British parliament, 
or proceedings of administration, as may relate to, or 
affect the British colonies in America; and to keep up 
and maintain a correspondence and communication 
with our sister colonies, respecting those important 
considerations; and the result of such their proceedings, 
from time to time, to lay before this house. 

" Resolved, That it be an instruction to the said 
committee, that they do, without delay, inform themselves 
particularly of the principles and authority, on which 
was constituted a court of enquiry, said to have been 
lately held in Rhode Island, with powers to transport 
persons accused of offences committed in America, to 
places beyond the seas, to be tried. 

" The said resolutions being severally read a second 
time, were, upon the question severally put thereupon, 
agreed to by the house, nemine contradicente. 

" Resolved, That the speaker of this house do 
transmit to the speakers of the different assemblies 
of the British colonies on the continent, copies of 
the said resolutions, and desire that they will lay them 
before their respective assemblies, and request them 
to appoint some person or persons of their respective 
bodies, to communicate from time to time with the 
said committee." 



LIFE OF HENRY. 89 

In supporting these resolutions, Mr. Carr made his 
debut, and a noble one it is said to have been. This 
gentleman, by profession a lawyer, had recently com- 
menced his practice at the same bars with Patrick 
Henry; and although he had not yet reached the 
meridian of life, he was considered by far the most for- 
midable rival in forensic eloquence that Mr. Henry had 
ever yet had to encounter. He had the advantage of a 
person at once dignified and engaging, and the manner 
and action of an accomplished gentleman. His educa-* 
tion was a finished one; his mind trained to correct 
thinking; his conceptions quick, and clear, and strong; 
he reasoned with great cogency, and had an imagina- 
tion which enlightened beautifully, without interrupting 
or diverting the course of his argument. His voice was 
finely toned; his feelings acute; his style free, and rich 
and various; his devotion to the cause of liberty verg- 
ing on enthusiasm; and his spirit firm and undaunted, 
beyond the possibility of being shaken. With what 
delight the house of burgesses hailed this new cham- 
pion, and felicitated themselves on such an accession to 
their cause, it is easy to imagine. But what are the 
hopes and expectations of mortals! 

" Ostendent terris hunc tantum fata, neque ultra 
" Esse sinent — " 

In two months from the time at which this gentleman 
stood before the house of burgesses, in all the pride of 
health, and genius and eloquence — he was no more: 
lost to his friends and to his country, and disappointed 
of sharing in that noble triumph which awaited the 
illustrious band of his compatriots.* 

* I cannot withhold from the reader the following note of this transaction 
and of the character of Mr. Carr, from one who knew him well* and heard 

M 



90 SKETCHES OF THE 

Mr. Carr's resolutions were supported successively 
by Mr. Henry, and Mr. Richard Henry Lee, with their 
usual ability. The reader will no doubt be gratified by 
a short sketch of this assembly, as it presented itself to a 
gentleman who now saw it for the first time, and who 
looked upon it with an eye of taste and genius; the 
writer, who was then in the ardour of youth, and a 
stranger in the colony, has since been distinguished by 
holding and adorning some of the highest offices of the 
state. 

" When I first saw Mr. Henry, which was in March, 
1773, he wore a peach blossom coloured coat, and a 
dark wig, which tied behind, and I believe a bag to it, 

this his first and last speech in the house of representatives. " I well remem- 
ber the pleasure expressed in the countenance and conversation of the mem- 
bers generally, on this debut of Mr. Carr, and the hopes they conceived, as 
well from the talents as the patriotism it manifested. But he died within 
two months after, and in him we lost a powerful fellow-labourer. His charac- 
ter was of a high order : a spotless integrity, sound judgment, handsome 
imagination, enriched by education and reading, quick and clear in his con- 
ceptions, of correct and ready elocution, impressing every hearer with the 
sincerity of the heart from which it flowed. His firmness was inflexible in 
whatever he thought right : but when no moral principle was in the way, 
never had man more of the milk of human kindness, of indulgence, of soft- 
ness, of pleasantry in conversation and conduct. The number of his friends, 
and the warmth of their affection, were proofs of his worth and of their esti- 
mate of it. To give to those now living an idea of the affliction produced by 
his death, in the minds of all those who knew him, I liken it to that lately 
felt by themselves on the death of his eldest son, Peter Carr; so like him 
in all his endowments and moral qualities, and whose recollection can 
never recur, without a deep drawn sigh from the bosom of every one who 
knew him." 

Extract from the Virginia Gazette of 29th May, 1773. 

" On Sunday, the 16th of May, died, at Charlotteville, in the 30th year of 
his age, Dabney Carr, esquire, attorney at law, and member of assembly for 
the county of Louisa. This excellent person possessed a fine genius, and a 
benevolent heart, with a taste for all that was polite, elegant, or social; and 
when occasion offered, displayed a masculine eloquence, and an undaunted 
love of liberty," 



LIFE OP HENRY. 91 

as was the fashion of the day. When pointed out to me 
as the orator of the assembly, I looked at him with 
no great prepossession. On the opposite side of the 
house sat the graceful Pendleton, and the harmonious 
Richard Henry Lee, whose aquiline nose and Roman 
profile struck me much more forcibly than that of 
Mr. Henry, his rival in eloquence. The distance from 
the gallery to the chair, near which these distinguished 
members sat, did not permit me to have such a view of 
their features and countenances, as to leave a strong 
impression, except of Mr. Lee's, whose profile was too 
remarkable not to have been noticed at an even greater 
distance. I was then between nineteen and twenty, 
had never heard a speech in public, except from the 
pulpit — had attached to the idea I had formed of an 
orator all the advantages of person which Mr. Pendleton 
possessed, and even more — all the advantages of voice, 
which delighted me so much in the speeches of Mr. 
Lee — the fine polish of language, which that gentleman 
united with that harmonious voice, so as to make me 
sometimes fancy, that I was listening to some being 
inspired with more than mortal powers of embellishment, 
and all the advantages of gesture which the celebrated 
Demosthenes considered as the first, second, and third 
qualifications of an orator. I discovered neither of 
these qualifications in the appearance of Mr. Henry, or 
in the few remarks I heard him deliver during the 
session. It was at this time that Mr. Dabney Carr made 
a motion for appointing a standing committee of corre- 
spondence with the other colonies. I was not present 
when Mr. Henry spoke on this question; but was told 
by some of my fellow-collegians, that he far exceeded Mr. 
Lee, whose speech succeeded the next day. Never 
before had I heard what I thought oratory: and if his 



92 SKETCHES OP THE 

speech was excelled by Mr. Henry's, the latter must 
have been excellent indeed. This was the only subject 
that I recollect, which called forth the talents of the 
members during that session, and there was too much 
unanimity to have elicited all the strength of any one of 
them/' 

My correspondent had an opportunity of seeing Mr. 
Henry not long afterwards, when speaking on a subject 
of the highest moment to the liberties of his country, 
and of witnessing that almost supernatural transforma- 
tion of appearance, which has been already noticed as 
being invariably wrought by the excitement of his 
genius. We shall have his own account of it by and 
by; and shall see, that he no longer formed an exception 
to the voice of his country, in assigning the palm of 
popular eloquence to this most rare and extraordinary 
favourite of nature. 

It is not improbable, as it has been suggested, that 
the strongly marked distinction of ranks which prevailed 
in this country, and the resentment, if not envy, with 
which the poorer classes looked up to the splendour and 
ostentation of the landed aristocracy, had a consider- 
able agency in inflaming Mr. Henry's hostility to the 
British court. He probably regarded the untitled nobles 
of Virginia, as a sort of spurious emanation from the 
royal stock; connected them in his resentments, and 
transferred from the effect to the cause the larger stream 
of his indignation. He had a rooted aversion and even 
abhorrence to every thing in the shape of pride, cru- 
elty, and tyranny ; and could not tolerate that social in- 
equality from which they proceeded, and by which they 
were nourished. The principle which he seems to have 
brought with him into the world, and which certainly 
formed the guide of all his public actions, was. that the 



LIFE OP HENRY. 93 

whole human race was one family, equal in their 
rights and their birthright liberty. 

The elements of his character were most happily 
mingled for the great struggle which was now coming 
on. His views were not less steady than they were 
bold. His vision pierced deeply into futurity; and long 
before a whisper of independence had been heard in this 
land, he had looked through the whole of the approach- 
ing contest, and saw, with the eye and the rapture of a 
prophet, his country seated aloft among the nations of the 
earth. A striking proof of this prescience, is given in an 
anecdote communicated to me by Mr. Pope. These are 
his words: "I am informed by Col. John Overton, that 
before one drop of blood was shed in our contest with 
Great Britain, he was at Col. Samuel Overton's, in com- 
pany with Mr. Henry, Col. Morris, John Hawkins, and 
Col. Samuel Overton, when the last-mentioned gentle- 
man asked Mr. Henry, 'whether he supposed Great 
Britain would drive her colonies to extremities? And 
if she should, what he thought would be the issue of the 
war?' When Mr. Henry, after looking round to see 
who were present, expressed himself confidentially to 
the company in the following manner: ' She will 
drive us to extremities — no accommodation will take 
place — hostilities will soon commence — and a despe- 
rate and bloody touch it will be/ 'But/ said Col. 
Samuel Overton, ' do you think, Mr. Henry, that an 
infant nation as we are, without discipline, arms, am- 
munition, ships of war, or money to procure them — 
do you think it possible, thus circumstanced, to oppose 
successfully the fleets and armies of Great Britain?' ' I 
will be candid with you,' replied Mr. Henry. ' I doubt 
whether we shall be able, alone, to cope with so power- 
ful a nation. But,' continued he, (rising from his chair 



94 SKETCHES OF THE 

with great animation,) ' where is France? Where is 
Spain? Where is Holland? the natural enemies of 
Great Britain — Where will they be all this while? Do 
you suppose they will stand by, idle and indifferent spec- 
tators to the contest? Will Louis the XVI. be asleep 
all this time? Believe me, no! When Louis the XVI. 
shall be satisfied by our serious opposition, and our 
Declaration of Independence, that all prospect of recon- 
ciliation is gone, then, and not till then, will he furnish 
us with arms, ammunition, and clothing; and not with 
these only, but he will send his fleets and armies to fight 
our battles for us; he will form with us a treaty offen- 
sive and defensive, against our unnatural mother. Spain 
and Holland will join the confederation! Our inde- 
pendence will be established! and we shall take our 
stand among the nations of the earth!' Here he ceased,; 
and Col. John Overton says, he shall never forget the 
voice and prophetic manner with which these pre- 
dictions were uttered, and which have been since so 
literally verified. Col. Overton says, at the word 
independence, the company appeared to be startled; for 
they had never heard any thing of the kind before even 
suggested." 

It was anticipated, that the establishment of corre- 
sponding committees would lead eventually to a con- 
gress of the colonies, and that measure was brought 
about by the following circumstances. 

The people of Boston having thrown into the sea a 
vessel load of tea, which was attempted to be forced 
upon them, were punished by an act of parliament, 
which shut up their port from and after the first day of 
June, 1774. The house of burgesses of Virginia being 
in session when this act arrived, passed an order, which 
stands upon their journal in the following terms: 



LIFE OF HENRY. 95 



" Tuesday, the 24th of May, 14 Geo. III. 1774. 

" This house being deeply impressed with appre- 
hension of the great dangers to be derived to British 
America, from the hostile invasion of the city of Boston, 
in our sister colony of Massachusetts Bay, whose com- 
merce and harbour are, on the first day of June next, to 
be stopped by an armed force, deem it highly necessary 
that the said first day of June next be set apart by the 
members of this house, as a day of fasting, humiliation, 
and prayer, devoutly to implore the Divine interposition 
for averting the heavy calamity which threatens destruc- 
tion to our civil rights, and the evils of civil war; to give 
us one heart and one mind, firmly to oppose, by all just 
and proper means, every injury to American rights; and 
that the minds of his majesty and his parliament may be 
inspired from above with wisdom, moderation, and 
justice, to remove from the loyal people of America all 
cause of danger, from a continued pursuit of measures 
pregnant with their ruin. 

'• Ordered, therefore, That the members of this house 
do attend in their places, at the hour of ten in the fore- 
noon, on the said first day of June next, in order to 
proceed with the speaker and the mace to the church 
in this city, for the purposes aforesaid; and that the 
reverend* Mr. Price be appointed to read prayers, and 
to preach a sermon suitable to the occasion." 

In consequence of this order, governor Dunmore, 
on the following day, dissolved the house, with this 
speech: 

" Mr. Speaker and gentlemen of the house of bur- 
gesses: I have in my hand a paper published by order 
of your house, conceived in such terms as reflect highly 



96 SKETCHES OF THE 

upon his majesty and the parliament of Great Britain, 
which makes it necessary to dissolve you, and you are 
dissolved accordingly." 

The members immediately withdrew to the Raleigh 
tavern, where they formed themselves into a committee 
to consider of the most expedient and necessary mea- 
sures to guard against the encroachments which so 
glaringly threatened them; and immediately adopted the 
following spirited association. 

" An association, signed by 89 members of the late 
house of burgesses. We, his majesty's most dutiful and 
loyal subjects, the late representatives of the good people 
of this country, having been deprived, by the sudden 
interposition of the executive part of this government, 
from giving our countrymen the advice we wished to 
convey to them, in a legislative capacity, find ourselves 
under the hard necessity of adopting this, the only 
method we have left, of pointing out to our countrymen 
such measures as, in our opinion, are best fitted to 
secure our dear rights and liberty from destruction, by 
the heavy hand of power now lifted against North 
America. With much grief we find, that our dutiful 
applications to Great Britain for the security of our just, 
ancient, and constitutional rights, have been not only 
disregarded, but that a determined system is formed and 
pressed, for reducing the inhabitants of British America 
to slavery, by subjecting them to the payment».of taxes, 
imposed without the consent of the people or their 
representatives; and that, in pursuit of this System, we 
find an act of the British parliament, lately passed, for 
stopping the harbour and commerce of the town of 
Boston, in our sister colony of Massachusetts Bay, 
until the people there submit to the payment of such 
unconstitutional taxes; and which act most violently 



LIFE OF HENRY. 97 

and arbitrarily deprives them of their property, in 
wharves erected by private persons, at their own great 
and proper expense: which act is, in our opinion, a most 
dangerous attempt to destroy the constitutional liberty 
and rights of all North America. It is further our 
opinion, that as tea, on its importation into America, 
is charged with a duty imposed by parliament, for the 
purpose of raising a revenue without the consent of the 
people, it ought not to be used by any person who wishes 
well to the constitutional rights and liberties of British 
America. And whereas the India company have un- 
generously attempted the ruin of America, by sending 
many ships loaded with tea into the colonies, thereby 
intending to fix a precedent in favour of arbitrary 
taxation, we deem it highly proper, and do accordingly 
recommend it strongly to our countrymen, not to pur- 
chase or use any kind of East India commodity what- 
soever, except saltpetre and spices, until the grievances 
of America are redressed. We are further clearly of 
opinion, that an attack made on one of our sister colo- 
nies, to compel submission to arbitrary taxes, is an attack 
made on all British America, and threatens ruin to the 
rights of all, unless the united wisdom of the whole be 
applied. And for this purpose it is recommended to the 
committee of correspondence, that they communicate 
ivith their several cowesponding committees, on the 
expediency of appointing deputies from the several 
colonies of British America, to meet in general congress, 
at such place, annually, as shall be thought most 
convenient; there to deliberate on those general measures 
ivhich the united interests of America may from time 
to time require. 

" A tender regard for the interest of our fellow- 
subjects, the merchants and manufacturers of Great 

N 



98 SKETCHES OF THE 

Britain, prevents us from going further at this time ; 
most earnestly hoping, that the unconstitutional prin- 
ciple of taxing the colonies without their consent will 
not be persisted in, thereby to compel us, against our 
will, to avoid all commercial intercourse with Britain. 
Wishing them and our people free and happy, we are 
their affectionate friends, the late representatives of 
Virginia. 

" The 27th day of May, 1774." 

To give effect to the recommendation of a congress 
on the part of this colony, delegates were shortly after 
elected by the several counties, to meet at Williamsburg 
on the first of August following, to consider further of 
the state of public affairs, and, more particularly, to 
appoint deputies to the general congress, which was to 
be convened at Philadelphia, on the 5th of September 
following. The clear, firm, and animated instructions 
given by the people of the several counties to their 
delegates, evince the thorough knowledge of the great 
parliamentary question which now pervaded the coun- 
try, and the determined spirit of the colonists to resist 
the claim of British taxation.* 

* The following are the instructions from the county of Hanover : 

To John Syme and Patrick Henry, junior, esquires. 
Gentlemen, 

You have our thanks for your patriotic, faithful, and spirited conduct, in 
the part you acted in the late assembly, as our burgesses, and as we are 
greatly alarmed at the proceedings of the British parliament respecting the 
town of Boston, and the province of Massachusetts Bay ; and as we under- 
stand a meeting of delegates fro mall the counties in this colony is appointed 
to be in Williamsburg on the first day of next month, to deliberate on our 
public affairs, we do hereby appoint you, gentlemen, our delegates ; and we 
do request you, then and there, to meet, consult, and advise, touching such 
matters as are most likely to effect our deliverance from the evils with which 
our country is threatened. 

The importance of those things which will offer themselves for your 



LIFE OF HENRY. 99 

On the first of August, accordingly, the first conven- 
tion of Virginia delegates assembled in Williamsburg; 
and gave a new proof of the invincible energy by which 
they were actuated, in a series of resolutions, whereby 



deliberation is exc eedingly great ; and when it is considered that the effect 
of the measures you may adopt will reach our latest posterity, you will excuse 
us for giving- you our sentiments, and pointing out some particulars, proper 
for that plan of conduct we wish you to observe. 

We are free men ; we have a right to be so ; and to enjoy all the privileges 
and immunities of our fellow-subjects in England; and while we retain a just 
sense of that freedom, and those rights and privileges necessary for its safety 
and security, we shall never give up the right of taxation. Let it suffice to 
say, once for all, we will never be taxed but by our own representatives: this is the 
great badge of freedom, and British America hath hitherto been distinguished 
by it ; and when we see the British parliament trampling upon that right, and 
acting with determined resolution to destroy it, we would wish to see the 
united wisdom and fortitude of America collected for its defence. 

The sphere of life in which we move hath not afforded us lights sufficient 
to determine with certainty, concerning those things from which the troubles 
at Boston originated. Whether the people there were warranted by justice, 
when they destroyed the tea, we know not ; but this we know, that the 
parliament, by their proceedings, have made us and all North America parties 
in the present dispute, and deeply interested in the event of it ; insomuch 
that if our sister colony of Massachusetts Bay is enslaved, we cannot long 
remain free. 

Our minds are filled with anxiety when we view the friendly regards of 
our parent state turned into enmity ; and those powers of government, for- 
merly exerted for our aid and protection, formed into dangerous efforts for 
our destruction. We read our intended doom in the Boston port bill, in that 
for altering the mode of trial in criminal cases, and finally in the bill for 
altering the form of government in the Massachusetts Bay. These several 
acts are replete with injustice and oppression, and strongly expressive of the 
future policy of Britain towards all her colonies ; if a full and uncontrolled 
operation is given to this detestable system in its earlier stages, it will pro- 
bably be fixed upon us for ever. 

Let it, therefore, be your great object to obtain a speedy repeal of those 
acts ; and for this purpose we recommend the adoption of such measures as 
may produce the hearty union of all our countrymen and sister colonies. 

UNITED WE STAND, DIVIDED WE FALL. 

To attain this wished-for union, we declare our readiness to sacrifice 
any lesser interest arising from a soil, climate, situation, or productions 
peculiar to us. 

We judge it conducive to the interests of America, that a general con- 
gress of deputies from all the colonies be held, in order to form a plan for 



100 SKETCHES OP THE 

they pledged themselves to make common cause with 
the people of Boston in every extremity; and broke off 
all commercial connexion with the mother country, until 
the grievances of which they complained should be 
redressed. By their last resolution they empowered 
their moderator, Mr. Peyton Randolph, or in case of 
his death, Robert C. Nicholas, esquire, on any future 

guarding the claim of the colonists, and their constitutional rights, from 
future encroachment, and for the speedy relief of our suffering brethren at 
Boston. For the present, we think it proper to form a general association 
against the purchase of all articles of goods imported from Great Britain, 
except negroes' cloths, salt, saltpetre, powder, lead, utensils and implements 
for handy craftsmen and manufacturers, which cannot be had in America ; 
books, paper, and the like necessaries ; and not to purchase any goods or 
merchandize that shall be imported from Great Britain, after a certain day 
that may be agreed on for that purpose, by the said general meeting of 
deputies at Williamsburg, except the articles aforesaid, or such as shall be 
allowed to be imported by the said meeting ; and that we will encourage the 
manufactures of America by every means in our power. A regard to justice 
hinders us at this time from withholding our exports ; nothing but the direct 
necessity shall induce us to adopt that proceeding, which we shall strive to 
avoid as long as possible. 

The African trade for slaves we consider as most dangerous to the 
virtue and welfare of this country; we therefore most earnestly wish to see 
it totally discouraged. 

A steady loyalty to the kings of England has ever distinguished our coun- 
try ; the present state of things here, as well as the many instances of it to 
be found in our history, leave no room to doubt it. God grant that we may 
never see the time when that loyalty shall be found incompatible with the 
rights of freemen. Our most ardent desire is, that we and our latest posterity 
may continue to live under the genuine, unaltered constitution of England, 
and be subjects, in the true spirit of that constitution, to his majesty and his 
illustrious house ; and may the wretches who affirm that we desire the con- 
trary, feel the punishment due to falsehood and villany. 

While prudence and moderation shall guide your councils, we trust, gen- 
tlemen, that firmness, resolution, and zeal, will animate you in the glorious 
struggle. The arm of power, which is now stretched forth against us, is 
indeed formidable ; but we do not despair. Our cause is good ; and if it is 
served with constancy and fidelity, it cannot fail of success. We promise you 
our best support, and we will heartily join in such measures as a majority of 
our countrymen shall adopt for securing the public liberty. 

Resolved, That the above address be transmitted to the printers, to be 

published in the gazettes. 

William Pollard, Clerk. 



LIFE OF HENRV. 101 

occasion that might in his opinion require it, to convene 
the several delegates of the colony, at such time and 
place as he might judge proper. 

They then appointed as deputies to congress on the 
part of this colony, Messrs. Peyton Randolph, Richard 
H. Lee, George Washington, Patrick Henry, Richard 
Bland, Benjamin Harrison, and Edmund Pendleton, 
and furnished them with the following firm and spirited 
letter of instructions. 

" Instructions for the deputies appointed to meet in 
general congress, on the part of the colony of Virginia. 

" The unhappy disputes between Great Britain and 
her American colonies, which began about the third 
year of the reign of his present majesty, and since con- 
tinually increasing, have proceeded to lengths so dan- 
gerous and alarming, as to excite just apprehensions in 
the minds of his majesty's faithful subjects of the colony, 
that they are in danger of being deprived of their 
natural, ancient, constitutional, and chartered rights, 
have compelled them to take the same into their most 
serious consideration; and being deprived of their usual 
and accustomed mode of making known their griev- 
ances, have appointed us their representatives, to con- 
sider what is proper to be done in this dangerous crisis 
of American affairs. It being our opinion that the 
united wisdom of North America should be collected in 
a general congress of all the colonies, we have appointed 
the honourable Peyton Randolph, esq. Richard Henry 
Lee, George Washington, Patrick Henry, Richard 
Bland, Benjamin Harrison, and Edmund Pendleton, 
esquires, deputies to represent this colony in the said 
congress, to be held at Philadelphia on the first Monday 
in September next. And that they may be the better 



102 SKETCHES OP THE 

informed of our sentiments touching the conduct we 
wish them to observe on this important occasion, we de- 
sire that they will express, in the first place, our faith 
and true allegiance to his majesty king George the third, 
our lawful and rightful sovereign; and that we are de- 
termined, with our lives and fortunes, to support him in 
the legal exercise of all his just rights and prerogatives. 
And, however misrepresented, we sincerely approve of 
a constitutional connexion with Great Britain, and wish 
most ardently a return of that intercourse of affection 
and commercial connexion that formerly united both 
countries; which can only be effected by a removal of 
those causes of discontent which have of late unhappily 
divided us. 

" It cannot admit of a doubt, but that British sub- 
jects in America are entitled to the same rights and 
privileges as their fellow-subjects possess in Britain; 
and, therefore, that the power assumed by the British 
parliament to bind America by their statutes, in all 
cases whatsoever, is unconstitutional, and the source of 
these unhappy differences. 

" The end of government would be defeated, by the 
British parliament exercising a power over the lives, 
the property, and the liberty of American subjects, 
who are not, and from their local circumstances can- 
not, be there represented. Of this nature we consider 
the several acts of parliament for raising a revenue in 
America, for extending the jurisdiction of the courts of 
admiralty, for seizing American subjects, and transport- 
ing them to Britain, to be tried for crimes committed in 
America, and the several late oppressive acts respect- 
ing the town of Boston, and province of Massachusetts 
Bay. 

" The original constitution of the American colonies, 



LIFE OF HENRY. 103 

possessing their assemblies with the sole right of di- 
recting their internal polity, it is absolutely destructive 
of the end of their institution, that their legislatures 
should be suspended, or prevented, by hasty dissolu- 
tions, from exercising their legislative powers. 

" Wanting the protection of Britain, we have long 
acquiesced in their acts of navigation, restrictive of our 
commerce, which we consider as an ample recompense 
for such protection; but as those acts derive their 
efficacy from that foundation alone, we have reason to 
expect they will be restrained, so as to produce the rea- 
sonable purposes of Britain, and not be injurious to us. 

" To obtain redress of these grievances, without 
which the people of America can neither be safe, free, 
nor happy, they are willing to undergo the great incon- 
venience that will be derived to them, from stopping all 
imports whatsoever from Great Britain, after the first 
day of November next, and also to cease exporting any 
commodity whatsoever to the same place, after the 10th 
day of August 1775. The earnest desire we have to 
make as quick and full payment as possible of our debts 
to Great Britain, and to avoid the heavy injury that 
would arise to this country from an earlier adoption of 
the non-exportation plan, after the people have already 
applied so much of their labour to the perfecting of the 
present crop, by which means they have been prevented 
from pursuing other methods of clothing and supporting 
their families, have rendered it necessary to restrain you 
in this article of non-exportation; but it is our desire 
that you cordially co-operate with our sister colonies 
in general congress, in such other just and proper 
methods as they, or the majority, shall deem necessary 
for the accomplishment of these valuable ends. 

" The proclamation issued by general Gage, in the 



104 SKETCHES OF THE 

government of the province of the Massachusetts Bay, 
declaring it treason for the inhabitants of that province 
to assemble themselves to consider of their grievances, 
and form associations for their common conduct on 
the occasion, and requiring the civil magistrates and 
officers to apprehend all such persons to be tried for 
their supposed offences, is the most alarming process 
that ever appeared in a British government; the said 
general Gage has thereby assumed and taken upon 
himself powers denied by the constitution to our legal 
sovereign; he not having condescended to disclose by 
what authority he exercises such extensive and unheard 
of powers, we are at a loss to determine whether he 
intends to justify himself as the representative of the 
king; or as the commander in chief of his majesty's 
forces in America. If he considers himself as acting 
in the character of his majesty's representative, we 
would remind him that the statute 25th Edward III. 
has expressed and denned all treasonable offences, and 
that the legislature of Great Britain hath declared that 
no offence shall be construed to be treason, but such 
as is pointed out by that statute; and that this was done 
to take out of the hands of tyrannical kings, and of weak 
and wicked ministers, that deadly weapon which con- 
structive treason had furnished them with, and which 
had drawn the blood of the best and honestest men in 
the kingdom; and that the king of Great Britain hath 
no right by his proclamation to subject his people to 
imprisonment, pains, and penalties. 

" That if the said general Gage conceives he is em- 
powered to act in this manner, as the commander in 
chief of his majesty's forces in America, this odious 
and illegal proclamation must be considered as a plain 
and full declaration that this despotic viceroy will be 



LIFE OF HENRY. 105 

bound by no law, nor regard the constitutional rights 
of his majesty's subjects, whenever they interfere with 
the plan he has formed for oppressing the good people 
of the Massachusetts Bay; and, therefore, that the 
executing, or attempting to execute, such proclamation, 
will justify resistance and reprisal." 

On the fourth of September, 1774, that venerable? 
body, the old continental congress of the United States 
(towards whom every American heart will bow with 
pious homage, while the name of liberty shall be dear 
in our land) met for the first time at Carpenter's Hall, 
in the city of Philadelphia. Peyton Randolph, of 
Virginia, was chosen president, and the house was 
organized for business, with all the solemnities of a 
regular legislature* 

The most eminent men of the various colonies were 
now, for the first time, brought together. They were 
known to each other by fame; but they were personally 
strangers. The meeting was awfully solemn. The 
object which had called them together was of incal- 
culable magnitude. The liberties of no less than three 
millions of people, with that of all their posterity, were 
staked on the wisdom and energy of their councils. 



* Sallust, in his second oration to C Caesar, Be Eepublica Ordinanda, 
gives a short and animated picture of their Roman ancestors, which, with 
the change of a single word, pubertate for imperio,) describes so happily our 
old continental congress, that I am sure I shall gratify the classical reader 
by its insertion. 

" Itaque majores nostri, cum bellis asperimis premerentur, equis, viris, 
pecunia amissa, nunquam defessi sunt armati de Ebertate contendere. Nq?l 
inopia xrarii, non vis hostium, non adversa res, ingentem eorum animum subegit: 
quern, quae virtute ceperant, simul cum anima retinerent. Atque ea, magis fortibus 
consiliis, quam bonis prseliis, patrata sunt. Quippe apud illos, una respublica erat,- 
ei consxdebant; /actio, contra hostes parabatur; corpus atque ingenmm, patrix. non 
suce, qidsque potentice exercitabat." 

O 



106 SKETCHES OF THE 

No wonder, then, at the long and deep silence which 
is said to have followed upon their organization; at the 
anxiety with which the members looked around upon 
each other; and the reluctance which every individual 
felt to open a business so fearfully momentous. In the 
midst of this deep and death-like silence, and just when 
it was beginning to become painfully embarrassing, 
Mr. Henry arose slowly, as if borne down by the weight 
of the subject. After faltering, according to his habit, 
through a most impressive exordium, in which he 
merely echoed back the consciousness of every other 
heart, in deploring his inability to do justice to the 
occasion, he launched, gradually, into a recital of the 
colonial wrongs. . Rising, as he advanced, with the 
grandeur of his subject, and glowing at length with all 
the majesty and expectation of the occasion, his speech 
seemed more than that of mortal man. Even those 
who had heard him in all his glory, in the house of 
burgesses of Virginia, were astonished at the manner 
in which his talents seemed to swell and expand 
themselves, to fill the vaster theatre in which he was 
now placed. There was no rant — no rhapsody — no 
labour of the understanding — no straining of the voice 
— no confusion of the utterance. His countenance 
was erect — his eye, steady — his action, noble — his 
enunciation, clear and firm — his mind poised on its 
centre — his views of his subject comprehensive and 
great — and his imagination, confiscating with a magni- 
ficence and a variety, which struck even that assembly 
with amazement and awe. He sat down amidst mur- 
murs of astonishment and applause; and as he had been 
before proclaimed the greatest orator of Virginia, he 
was now, on every hand, admitted to be the first orator 
i of America. 



LIFE OP HENRY. 107 

He was followed by Mr. Richard Henry Lee, who 
charmed the house with a different kind of eloquence 
— chaste — classical — beautiful — his polished periods 
rolling along without effort, filling the ear with the most 
bewitching harmony, and delighting the mind with the 
most exquisite imagery. The cultivated graces of Mr. 
Lee's rhetoric received and at the same time reflected 
beauty, by their contrast with the wild and grand 
effusions of Mr. Henry. Just as those noble monuments 
of art which lie scattered through the celebrated 
landscape of Naples, at once adorn, and are in their 
turn adorned by the surrounding majesty of nature. 

Two models of eloquence, each so perfect in its 
kind, and so finely contrasted, could not but fill the 
house with the highest admiration; and as Mr. Henry 
had before been pronounced the Demosthenes, it was 
conceded on every hand, that Mr. Lee was the Cicero 
of America. 



108 SKETCHES OF THE 



SECTION IV. 

It is due however to historic truth to record, that 
the superior powers of these great men were manifested 
only in debate. On the floor of the house, and during 
the first days of the session, while general grievances 
were the topic, they took the undisputed lead in the 
assembly, and were confessedly, iwimi inter pares. 
But when called down from the heights of declamation, 
to that severer test of intellectual excellence, the details 
of business, they found themselves in a body of cool- 
headed, reflecting, and most able men, by whom they 
were, in their turn, completely thrown into the shade. 

A petition to the king, an address to the people of 
Great Britain, and a memorial to the people of British 
America, were agreed to be drawn. Mr. Lee, Mr. 
Henry and others, were appointed for the first; Mr. Lee, 
Mr. Livingston, and Mr. Jay, for the two last. The 
splendour of their debut occasioned Mr. Henry to be 
designated, by his committee, to draw the petition to 
the king, with which they were charged; and Mr. Lee 
was charged with the address to the people of England. 
The last was first reported. On reading it great dis- 
appointment was expressed in every countenance, and 
a dead silence ensued for some minutes. At length it 
was laid on the table, for perusal and consideration, till 
the next day: when first one member and then another 
arose, and paying some faint compliment to the com- 
position, observed that there were still certain considera- 
tions not expressed, which should properly find a place 



LIFE OF HENRY. 109 

in it. The address was, therefore, committed for 
amendment; and one prepared by Mr. Jay, and offered 
by governor Livingston, was reported and adopted, with 
scarcely an alteration. These facts are stated by a 
gentleman to whom they were communicated by Mr. 
Pendleton and Mr. Harrison, of the Virginia delegation, 
(except that Mr. Harrison erroneously ascribed the 
draught to governor Livingston,) and to whom they were 
afterwards confirmed by governor Livingston himself. 
Mr. Henry's draught of a petition to the king was equally 
unsuccessful, and was recommitted for amendment. 
Mr. John Dickinson (the author of the Farmer's Letters) 
was added to the committee, and a new draught prepar- 
ed by him was adopted.* 

This is one of those incidents in the life of Mr. Henry 
to which an allusion was made in a former page, when 
it was observed, that notwithstanding the wonderful 
gifts which he had derived from nature, he lived himself 
to deplore his early neglect of literature. But for this 
neglect, that imperishable trophy won by the pen of Mr. 
John Dickinson would have been his; and the fame of 
his genius, instead of resting on tradition, or the short- 
lived report of his present biographer, would have 
flourished on the immortal page of the American his- 
tory. 

It is a trite remark, that the talents for speaking and 



* The late governor Tyler, a warm friend of Mr. Henry's, used to relate an 
anecdote in strict accordance with this statement .- it was, that after these 
two gentlemen had made their first speeches, Mr. Chase, a delegate from 
Maryland, walked across the house to the seat of his colleague, and said to 
him, in an under voice — "We might as well go home ; we are not able to 
legislate with these men." But that after the house came to descend to de- 
tails, the same Mr. Chase was heard to remark, " Well, after all, I 
find these are but men — and in mere matters of business, but very common 
men." 



110 SKETCHES OF THE 

for writing eminently are very rarely found united in 
the same individual; and the rarity of the occurrence 
has led to an opinion, that those talents depend on con- 
stitutions of mind so widely different, as to render their 
union almost wholly unattainable. This was not the 
opinion, however, it is believed, at Athens and at Rome: 
it cannot, I apprehend, be the opinion either in the 
united kingdom of Great Britain. There have been, 
indeed, in these countries distinguished orators, who 
have not left behind them any proofs of their eminence 
in composition; but neither have they left behind them 
any proofs of their failure in this respect: so that 
the conclusion of their incompetency is rather as- 
sumed than established. On the other hand, there 
have been, in all those countries, too many illustrious 
examples of the union of those talents, to justify 
the belief of their incongruity by any general law of 
nature. 

That there have been many eminent writers who, 
from physical defects, could never have become orators, 
is very certain: but is the converse of the proposition 
equally true? Was there ever an eminent orator who 
might not, by proper discipline, have become, also, a 
very eminent writer? What are the essential qualities of 
the orator? Are they not judgment, invention, imagina- 
tion, sensibility, taste and expression, or the command 
of strong and appropriate language? If these be the 
qualities of the orator, it is very easy to understand how 
they may be improved by the discipline of the closet;* 
but not so easy to comprehend how they can possibly be 
injured by it. Is there any danger that this discipline 



* Nulla enim res tantum ad dicendum proficit, quantum scriptio. — Cic 
Bhut. xxiv. 92. 



LIFE OF HENRY. Ill 

will tame too much the fiery spirit, the enchanting 
wildness, and magnificent irregularity of the orator's 
genius? The example of Demosthenes alone is a suffi- 
cient answer to this question; and the reader will, at 
once, recall numerous other examples, corroborative of 
the same truth, both in ancient and modern times. The 
truth seems to be, that this rare union of talents results 
not from any incongruity in their nature, but from de- 
fective education, taking this word in its larger, Roman 
sense. If the genius of the orator has been properly 
trained in his youth to both pursuits, instead of being 
injured, it will, I apprehend, be found to derive addi- 
tional grace, beauty, and even sublimity, from the dis- 
cipline. His flights will be at least as bold — they will 
be better sustained — and whether he chooses to descend 
in majestic circles, or to stoop on headlong wing, his 
performance will not be the worse for having been 
taught to fly. 

For Mr. Henry and for the world, it happened un- 
fortunately, that instead of the advantage of this Roman 
education, of which we have spoken, the years of his 
youth had been wasted in idleness. He had become 
celebrated as an orator before he had learned to com- 
pose; and it is not therefore wonderful, that when 
withdrawn from the kindling presence of the crowd, 
he was called upon for the first time to take the pen, 
all the spirit and flame of his genius were extin- 
guished.* 

* On this subject, of the rare union of the talents of speaking and writing' 
in the same man, Cicero has a parallel between Galba and Lxlius, which is 
not less just than it is beautiful. After having spoken of Galba as one of those 
men of great but Jess cultivated natural powers, who were afraid of lowering 
the fame of their eloquence by submitting their writings to the world, he 
proceeds thus : — " Quern (Galbam) fortasse vis non ingenii solum, sed etiam 
ammif et naturalis guidam dolor dicentem incendebat, effeciebutque, vi et incitata, 



112 SKETCHES OF THE 

But while, with reference to his own fame and the 
lasting benefits which he might have conferred on the 
world, we lament his want of literary discipline, it is 

et gravis, et vehemens esset oratio : dein, cum otiosus stilum prehenderat, tnotus- 
que omnis arum, tanquam ventus, kominem defecerat,facessebat oratio : quod its, 
qui limatius dicendi comectantur genus, accidere non solet, propterea quod pruden- 
tia nunquam deficit oratorem,qua Me utens, eodem modo possit et dicere et scribere,- 
ardor animi non semper adest, isque cum consedit, omnis ilia vis et quasi Jlamma 
oratoris extingidtvr. Hanc igitur ob causam, videtur Lxlii mens spirare etiam in 
scriptis, Galbx antem,vis occidisse." Brutus, xxiv. 93. There seems tohave been 
a strong resemblance between the structure of Galba's eloquence and charac- 
ter, and those of Mr. Henry. In their habits, however, there was this striking 
difference, that Galba's preparation for speaking was always most elaborate; 
Mr. Henry's, generally, none at all. On this head, of Galba's anxious prepara- 
tion, Cicero gives us a very interesting anecdote. Lxlius, it seems, was en- 
gaged in a great cause, in which he spoke with the peculiar elegance which 
always distinguished him; but not having succeeded in convincing his judges, 
the case was adjourned to another day, and a new argument was called for. 
Laelius again appeared and surpassed his former exertions, but with the 
same result, of another adjournment and a call for re-argument. His clients 
attended him to his house on the rising of the court, expressed their grati- 
tude in the strongest terms, and begged that he would not permit himself 
to be wearied into a desertion of them. To this Lselius answered, that what 
he had done for the support of the cause, had, indeed, been diligently and' 
accurately performed ; but he was satisfied that that cause could be better 
defended by the more bold and vehement eloquence of Galba. Galba was 
accordingly applied to ; but was, at first, startled at the idea of succeeding 
such an orator as Lxlius, in any cause: more especially, on the short time for 
preparation that was then allowed him. He yielded, however, to their im- 
portunities; and employed the whole of the intermediate day and the morn- 
ing of that in which the court was to sit, in studying and annotating, with the 
help of his amanuenses. When the hour of court arrived, his clients called 
for him, and Galba came out, " with that complexion and those eyes," says 
Cicero, " which would have led you to suppose that he had been engaged in 
pleading a cause, and not in studying it." Whence it appears that Galba 
was not less vehement and inflamed in meditating, than in the act of deliver- 
ing a speech. His success was proportioned to his preparation. " In the 
midst of the greatest expectation, surrounded by a vast concourse of hearers, 
before Lxlius himself, he plead the cause with so much force and so much 
power, that no part of his speech passed without applause, and his clients 
were discharged, with the approbation of every one." What an impression 
does this give us of the magnanimity of Ladius, as well as the abilities of 
Galba ! Mr. Henry would not have taken the trouble of Galba's prepara- 
tion ; but he would have gained the cause, if human abilities could have 
gained it. 



LIFE OF HENRY. 113 

not impossible that, for the times in which he lived, and 
for the more immediate purpose of the American 
revolution, the popular opinion may be correct. The 
people seem to have admired him the more for his want 
of discipline. " His genius/ 5 they say, " was unbroken, 
and too full of fire to bear the curb of composition. He 
delighted to swim the flood, to breast the torrent, and to 
scale the mountain : and supported as he was, in all pub- 
lic bodies, by masters of the pen, they insist, that it was 
even fortunate for the revolution, that his genius was 
left at large, to revel in all the wildness and boldness of 
nature; that it enabled him to infuse, more successfully, 
his own intrepid spirit into the measures of the revolu- 
tion; that it rendered his courage more contagious, and 
enabled him to achieve, by a kind of happy rashness, 
what perhaps had been lost by a better regulated 
mind." 

But to resume our narrative: congress arose in Octo- 
ber, and Mr. Henry returned to his native county. 
Here, as was natural, he was surrounded by his neigh- 
bours, who were eager to hear not only what had been 
done, but what kind of men had composed that illus- 
trious body. He answered their enquiries with all his 
wonted kindness and candour; and having been asked 
by one of them, " whom he thought the greatest man in 
congress," he replied — " If you speak of eloquence, 
Mr. Rutledge of South Carolina is by far the greatest 
orator; but if you speak of solid information and sound 
judgment, colonel Washington is, unquestionably, the 
greatest man on that floor." Such was the penetration 
which, at that early period of Mr. Washington's life, 
could pierce through his retiring modesty and habitual 
reserve; and estimate so correctly the unrivalled worth 
of his character. 

p 



114 FETCHES OF THE 

On Monday the 20th of March, 1775, the convention 
of delegates from the several counties and corporations 
of Virginia, met for the second time. This assembly 
was held in the old church in the town of Richmond. 
Mr. Henry was a member of that body also. The 
reader will bear in mind the tone of the instructions 
given by the convention of the preceding year to their 
deputies in congress. He will remember, that, while 
they recite with great feeling the series of grievances 
under which the colonies had laboured, and insist 
with firmness on their constitutional rights, they give, 
nevertheless, the most explicit and solemn pledge of 
their faith and true allegiance to his majesty king 
George the III. and avow their determination to sup- 
port him with their lives and fortunes, in the legal 
exercise of all his just rights and prerogatives. He will 
remember, that these instructions contain, also, an ex- 
pression of their sincere approbation of a connexion 
with Great Britain, and of their ardent wishes for a 
return of that friendly intercourse, from which this 
country had derived so much prosperity and happiness. 
These sentiments still influenced many of the leading 
members of the convention of 1775. They could not 
part with the fond hope, that those peaceful days would 
again return, which had shed so much light and warmth 
over the land; and the report of the king's gracious 
reception of the petition from congress tended to che- 
rish and foster that hope, and to render them averse to 
any measure of violence. But Mr. Henry saw things 
with a steadier eye and a deeper insight. His judgment 
was too solid to be duped by appearances; and his heart 
too firm and manly to be amused by false and flattering 
hopes. He had long since read the true character of 
the British court; and saw that no alternative remained 



LIFE OF HENRY. 115 

for his country but abject submission or heroic resist- 
ance. It was not for a soul like Henry's to hesitate 
between these courses. He had offered upon the altar 
of liberty no divided heart. The gulf of war which 
yawned before him was indeed fiery and fearful; but he 
saw that the awful plunge was inevitable. The body of 
the convention however hesitated. They cast around 
u a longing lingering look" on those flowery fields, on 
which peace, and ease, and joy, were still sporting; and 
it required all the energies of a Mentor like Henry to 
push them from the precipice, and conduct them over 
the stormy sea of the revolution, to liberty and glory. 

The convention being formed and organized for 
business, proceeded, in the first place, to express their 
unqualified approbation of the measures of congress, and 
to declare that they considered " this whole continent 
as under the highest obligations to that respectable body, 
for the wisdom of their counsels, and their unremitted 
endeavours to maintain and preserve inviolate the just 
rights and liberties of his majesty's dutiful and loyal 
subjects in America/' 

They next resolve, that " the warmest thanks of the 
convention, and of all the inhabitants of this colony, 
were clue, and that this just tribute of applause be 
presented to the worthy delegates, deputed by a former 
convention to represent this colony in general congress, 
for their cheerful undertaking and faithful discharge 
of the very important trust reposed in them." 

The morning of the 23d March was opened, by 
reading a petition and memorial from the assembly of 
Jamaica to the king's most excellent majesty: where- 
upon it was " resolved, that the unfeigned thanks and 
most grateful acknowledgments of the convention be 
presented to that very respectable assembly, for the 



116 SKETCHES OF THE 

exceeding generous and affectionate part they have so 
nobly taken, in the unhappy contest between Great 
Britain and her colonies; and for their truly patriotic 
endeavours to fix the just claims of the colonists upon 
the most permanent constitutional principles: — that the 
assembly be assured, that it is the most ardent wish of 
this colony (and they were persuaded of the whole 
continent of North America) to see a speedy return of 
those halcyon days, when we lived a free and happy 
people/' 

These proceedings were not adapted to the taste of 
Mr. Henry; on the contrary, they were " gall and 
wormwood" to him. The house required to be wrought 
up to a bolder tone. He rose, therefore, and moved 
the following manly resolutions: 

" Resolved, That a well regulated militia, composed 
of gentlemen and yeomen, is the natural strength and 
only security of a free government; that such a militia in 
this colony would for ever render it unnecessary for the 
mother country to keep among us, for the purpose of 
our defence, any standing army of mercenary soldiers, 
always subversive of the quiet, and dangerous to the 
liberties of the people, and would obviate the pretext 
of taxing us for their support. 

" That the establishment of such a militia is, at this 
time, peculiarly necessary, by the state of our laws, for 
the protection and defence of the country, some of 
which are already expired, and others will shortly be 
so; and that the known remissness of government in 
calling us together in legislative capacity, renders it too 
insecure, in this time of danger and distress, to rely 
that opportunity will be given of renewing them, in 
general assembly, or making any provision to secure our 



LIFE OF HENRY. 117 

inestimable rights and liberties, from tJwse further 
violations with which they are threatened. 

" Resolved, therefore, That this colony be imme- 
diately put into a state of defence, and that 
be a committee to prepare a plan for embodying, arm- 
ing, and disciplining such a number of men, as may be 
sufficient for that purpose:" 

The alarm which such a proposition must have 
given to those who had contemplated no resistance of 
a character more serious than petition, non-importation, 
and passive fortitude, and who still hung with suppliant 
tenderness on the skirts of Britain, will be readily 
conceived by the reflecting reader. The shock was 
painful. It was almost general. The resolutions were 
opposed as not only rash in policy, but as harsh and well 
nigh impious in point of feeling. Some of the warmest 
patriots of the convention opposed them. Richard 
Bland, Benjamin Harrison, and Edmund Pendleton, 
who had so lately drunk of the fountain of patriotism 
in the continental congress, and Robert C. Nicholas, 
one of the best as well as ablest men and patriots in 
the state, resisted them with all their influence and 
abilities. 

They urged the late gracious reception of the con- 
gressional petition by the throne. They insisted that 
national comity, and much more filial respect, demanded 
the exercise of a more dignified patience. That the 
sympathies of the parent country were now on our side. 
That the friends of American liberty in parliament 
were still with us, and had, as yet, had no cause to blush 
for our indiscretion. That the manufacturing interests 
of Great Britain, already smarting under the effects of 
our non-importation, co-operated powerfully towards 
our relief. That the sovereign himself had relented, 



118 SKETCHES OF THE 

and showed that he looked upon our sufferings with an 
eye of pity. " Was this a moment," they asked, " to disgust 
our friends, to extinguish all the conspiring sympathies 
which were working in our favour, to turn their friend- 
ship into hatred, their pity into revenge? And what was 
there, they asked, in the situation of the colony, to 
tempt us to this? Were we a great military people? 
Were we ready for war? Where were our stores — 
where were our arms — where our soldiers — where 
our generals — where our money, the sinews of war? 
They were no where to be found. In truth, we were 
poor — we were naked — we were defenceless. And yet 
we talk of assuming the front of war! of assuming it, too, 
against a nation, one of the most formidable in the world! 
A nation ready and armed at all points! Her navies 
riding triumphant in eveiy sea; her armies never march- 
ing but to certain victory! What was to be the issue 
of the struggle we were called upon to court? What 
could be the issue, in the comparative circumstances of 
the two countries, but to yield up this country an easy 
prey to Great Britain, and to convert the illegitimate 
right which the British parliament now claimed, into a 
firm and indubitable right, by conquest? The measure 
might be brave; but it was the bravery of madmen. It 
had no pretension to the character of prudence; and as 
little to the grace of genuine courage. It would be 
time enough to resort to measures of despair, when 
every well founded hope had entirely vanished." 

To this strong view of the subject, supported as it 
was by the stubborn fact of the well known helpless 
condition of the colony, the opponents of those reso- 
lutions superadded every topic of persuasion which 
belonged to the cause. 

" The strength and lustre which we derived from our 



LIFE OF HENRY. 119 

connexion with Great Britain — the domestic comforts 
which we had drawn from the same source, and whose 
value we were now able to estimate by their loss — that 
ray of reconciliation which was dawning upon us from 
the east, and which promised so fair and happy a day: — 
with this they contrasted the clouds and storms which the 
measure now proposed was so well calculated to raise — 
and in which we should not have even the poor con- 
solation of being pitied by the world, since we should 
have so needlessly and rashly drawn them upon our- 
selves." 

These arguments and topics of persuasion were so 
well justified by the appearance of things, and w T ere 
moreover so entirely in unison with that love of ease 
and quiet which is natural to man, and that disposition 
to hope for happier times, even under the most forbid- 
ding circumstances, that an ordinary man, in Mr. Henry's 
situation, would have been glad to compound with the 
displeasure of the house, by being permitted to withdraw 
his resolutions in silence. 

Not so, Mr. Henry. His was a spirit fitted to raise 
the whirlwind, as well as to ride in and direct it. His 
was that comprehensive view, that unerring prescience, 
that perfect command over the actions of men, whicli 
qualified him not merely to guide, but almost to create 
the destinies of nations. 

He rose at this time with a majesty unusual to him 
in an exordium, and with all that self-possession by 
which he was so invariably distinguished. "No man," 
he said, " thought more highly than he did of the 
patriotism, as well as abilities, of the very worthy gen- 
tlemen who had just addressed the house. But dif- 
ferent men often saw the same subject in different 
lights; and, therefore, he hoped it would not be thought 



120 SKETCHES OF THE 

disrespectful to those gentlemen, if, entertaining as he 
did, opinions of a character very opposite to theirs, he 
should speak forth his sentiments freely, and without 
reserve. This," he said, " was no time for ceremony. 
The question hefore the house was one of awful mo- 
ment to this country. For his own part, he consider- 
ed it as nothing less than a question of freedom or 
slavery. And in proportion to the magnitude of the 
subject, ought to be the freedom of the debate. It was 
only in this way that they could hope to arrive at truth, 
and fulfil the great responsibility which they held to 
God and their country. Should he keep back his 
opinions at such a time, through fear of giving offence, 
he should consider himself as guilty of treason towards 
his country, and of an act of disloyalty toward the ma- 
jesty of Heaven, which he revered above all earthly 
kings." 

" Mr. President," said he, " it is natural to man to 
indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut 
our eyes against a painful truth — and listen to the song 
of that syren, till she transforms us into beasts. Is this," 
he asked, " the part of wise men, engaged in a great and 
arduous struggle for liberty? Were we disposed to be 
of the number of those, who having eyes, see not, and 
having ears, hear not, the things which so nearly concern 
their temporal salvation ? For his part, whatever anguish 
of spirit it might cost, he was willing to know the whole 
truth; to know the worst, and to provide for it." 

"He had," he said, "but one lamp by which his 
feet were guided; and that was the lamp of experience. 
He knew of no way of judging of the future but by the 
past. And judging by the past, he wished to know 
what there had been in the conduct of the British 
ministry for the last ten years, to justify those hopes 



LIFE OF HENRY. 121 

with which gentlemen had been pleased to solace them- 
selves and the house? Is it that insidious smile with 
which our petition has been lately received? Trust it 
not, sir; it will prove a snare to your feet. Suffer not 
yourselves to be betrayed with a kiss. Ask yourselves 
how this gracious reception of our petition comports 
with those warlike preparations which cover our waters 
and darken our land. Are fleets and armies necessary 
to a work of love and reconciliation J Have we shown 
ourselves so unwilling to be reconciled, that force must 
be called in to win back our love? Let us not deceive 
ourselves, sir. These are the implemenjs of war and 
subjugation — the last arguments to which kings resort. 
I ask gentlemen, sir, what means this martial array, if 
its purpose be not to force us to submission? Can gentle- 
men assign any other possible motive for it? Has Great 
Britain any enemy in this quarter of the world, to call 
for all this accumulation of navies and armies? No, sir, 
she has none. They are meant for us: they can be 
meant for no other. They are sent over to bind and 
rivet upon us those chains, which the British ministry 
have been so long forging. And what have we to op- 
pose to them? Shall we try argument? Sir, we have 
been trying that for the last ten years. Have we any 
thing new to offer upon the subject? Nothing. We have 
held the subject up in every light of which it is capable; 
but it has been all in vain. Shall we resort to entreaty 
and humble supplication? What terms shall we find, 
which have not been already exhausted? Let us not, I 
beseech you, sir, deceive ourselves longer. Sir, we 
have done every thing that could be done, to avert the 
storm which is now coming on. We have petitioned — 
we have remonstrated — we have supplicated — we have 
prostrated ourselves before the throne, and have implored 

Q 



122 SKETCHES OP THE 

its interposition to arrest the tyrannical hands of the 
ministry and parliament. Our petitions have been 
slighted; our remonstrances have produced additional 
violence and insult; our supplications have been disre- 
garded; and we have been spurned, with contempt, 
from the foot of the throne. In vain, after these things, 
may we indulge the fond hope of peace and reconcilia- 
tion. TJiere is no longer any room for hope. If we 
wish to be free — if we mean to preserve inviolate those 
inestimable privileges for which we have been so long 
contending — if we mean not basely to abandon the noble 
struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and 
which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon, until 
the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained — we 
must fight! — I repeat it, sir, we must fight!! An appeal 
to arms and to the God of Hosts, is all that is left 



us 



t"# 



" They tell us, sir," continued Mr. Henry, " that we 
are weak — unable to cope with so formidable an adver- 
sary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the 
next week or the next year? Will it be when we are 
totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be sta- 
tioned in every house? Shall we gather strength by irre- 
solution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of 
effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs, and 
hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies 

* " Imagine to yourself," says my correspondent, (judge Tucker,) " this 
sentence delivered with all the calm dignity of Cato of Utica — imagine to 
yourself the Roman senate, assembled in the capitol, when it was entered by 
the profane Gauls, who, at first, were awed by their presence, as if they had 
entered an assembly of the gods ! — imagine that you heard that Gato address- 
ing such a senate — imagine that you saw the hand-writing on the wall of 
Belshazzar's palace — imagine you heard a voice as from heaven uttering the 
words, ' We must fight? as the doom of fate, and you may have some idea of 
the speaker, the assembly to whom he addressed himself, and the auditory, 
of which I was one." 



LIFE OF HENRY. 123 

shall have bound us hand and foot? Sir, we are not 
weak, if we make a proper use of those means which 
the God of nature hath placed in our power. Three 
millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, 
and in such a country as that which we possess, are in- 
vincible by any force which our enemy can send against 
us. Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. 
There is a just God who presides over the destinies of 
nations; and who will raise up friends to fight our bat- 
tles for us. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; 
it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, sir, 
we have no election. If we were base enough to desire 
it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There 
is no retreat, but in submission and slavery! Our chains 
are forged. Their clanking may be heard on the plains 
of Boston! The war is inevitable — and let it come!! I 
repeat it, sir, let it come!!! 

" It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentle- 
men may cry, peace, peace — but there is no peace. The 
war is. actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from 
the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding 
arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand 
we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What 
would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as 
to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? 
Forbid it, Almighty God! — I know not what course 
others may take; but as for me," cried he, with both 
his arms extended aloft, his brows knit, every feature 
marked with the resolute purpose of his soul, and his 
voice swelled to its boldest note of exclamation — " give 
me liberty, or give me death!" 

He took his seat. No murmur of applause was heard. 
The effect was too deep. After the trance of a moment, 
several members started from their seats. The cry, " to 



124; SKETCHES OP THE 

arms," seemed to quiver on every lip, and gleam from 
every eye! Richard H. Lee arose and supported Mr. 
Henry, with his usual spirit and elegance. But his 
melody was lost amidst the agitations of that ocean, 
which the master spirit of the storm had lifted up on 
high. That supernatural voice still sounded in their 
ears, and shivered along their arteries. They heard, in 
every pause, the cry of liberty or death. They became 
impatient of speech— their souls were on fire for action.* 
The resolutions were adopted; and Patrick Henry, 
Richard H. Lee, Robert C. Nicholas, Benjamin Har- 
rison, Lemuel Riddick, George Washington, Adam 
Stevens, Andrew Lewis, William Christian, Edmund 
Pendleton, Thomas Jefferson, and Isaac Zane, esquires, 
were appointed a committee to prepare the plan called 
for by the last resolution.! 

* Mr. Randolph, in his manuscript history, has given a most eloquent and 
impressive account of this debate. Since these sheets were prepared for 
the press, and at the moment of their departure from the hands of the 
author, he has received from chief justice Marshall, a note in relation to the 
same debate, which he thinks too interesting to suppress. It is the substance 
of a statement made to the chief justice (then an ardent youth, feeling 1 a 
most enthusiastic admiration of eloquence, and panting for war) by his 
father, who was a member of this convention. Mr. Marshall, (the father,) 
after speaking of Mr. Henry's speech " as one of the most bold, vehement, 
and animated pieces of eloquence that had ever been delivered," proceeded 
to state, that " he was followed by Mr. Richard H. Lee, who took a most in- 
teresting view of our real situation. He stated the force which Britain could 
probably bring to bear upon us, and reviewed our resources and means of 
resistance. He stated the advantages and disadvantages of both parties, and 
drew from this statement auspicious inferences. But he concluded with 
saying, admitting the probable calculations to be against us, ' we are assur- 
ed in holy writ that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong ; 
and if the language of genius may be added to inspiration, I will say with our 
immortal bard : 

' Thrice is he armed, who hath his quarrel just ! 
And he but naked, though locked up in steel, 
Whose conscience with injustice is oppress'd !' " 

f Colonel Robert Carter Nicholas (although opposed like all the older 



LIFE OF HENRY. 125 

The constitution of this committee proves, that in 
those days of genuine patriotism there existed a mutual 
and noble confidence, which deemed the opponents of a 
measure no less worthy than its friends to assist in its 
execution. A correspondent,* who bore himself a most 
distinguished part in our revolution, in speaking of the 
gentlemen whom I have just named as having opposed 
Mr. Henry's resolutions, and of Mr. Wythe who acted 
with them, says — " these were honest and able men, 
who had begun the opposition on the same grounds, 
but with a moderation more adapted to their age and 
experience. Subsequent events favoured the bolder 
spirits of Henry, the Lees, Pages, Mason, &c. with 
whom I went in all points. Sensible, however, of the 
importance of unanimity among our constituents, 
although we often wished to have gone on faster, we 
slackened our pace, that our less ardent colleagues might 
keep up with us; and they on their part differing nothing 
from us in principle, quickened their gait somewhat 
beyond that which their prudence might, of itself, have 
advised, and thus consolidated the phalanx which 
breasted the power of Britain. By this harmony of the 
bold with the cautious, we advanced, with our consti- 
tuents, in undivided mass, and with fewer examples of 
separation than perhaps existed in any other part of the 
union/' 

patriots, from the considerations which have heen stated in the text, to 
resistance at this particular point of time) was, nevertheless, one of the 
firmest supporters of the principles of the revolution. As soon, therefore, 
as the measure of resistance was canned, in order to give to it the greatest 
effect, he rose and moved to change the system ; and, instead of arming 
the militia, to raise ten thousand regulars for the war ; but the motion was 
overruled. Chief justice Marshall says — " I have frequently heard my 
father speak of colonel Nicholas' motion, to raise ten thousand men for the 
war." 

* Mr. Jefferson. 



126 SKETCHES OF THE 

The plan for embodying, arming, and disciplining 
the militia, proposed by the committee which has just 
been mentioned, was received and adopted, and is in 
the following terms: 

" The committee propose that it be strongly recom- 
mended to the colony, diligently to put in execution the 
militia law passed in the year 1738, entitled, 'An act 
for the better regulating of the militia,' which has be- 
come in force by the expiration of all subsequent militia 
laws. 

" The committee are further of opinion, that as, 
from the expiration of the above-mentioned laws, and 
various other causes, the legal and necessary disciplin- 
ing the militia has been much neglected, and a proper 
provision of arms and ammunition has not been made, 
to the evident danger of the community, in case of in- 
vasion or insurrection: that it be recommended to the 
inhabitants of the several counties of this colony, that 
they form one or more volunteer companies of infantry 
and troops of horse in each county, and to be in con- 
stant training and readiness to act on any emergency. 

" That it be recommended particularly to the coun- 
ties of Brunswick, Dinwiddie, Chesterfield, Henrico, 
Hanover, Spotsylvania, King George, and Stafford, and 
to all counties below these, that, out of such their 
volunteers, they form, each of them, one or more troops 
of horse; and to all the counties above these, it is recom- 
mended that they pay a more particular attention to the 
forming a good infantry. 

" That each company of infantry consist of sixty- 
eight, rank and file, to be comhianded by one captain, 
two lieutenants, one ensign, four sergeants, and four 
corporals; and vhat they have a drummer, and be 
furnished with a drum and colours; that every man be 



LIFE OF HENRY. 127 

provided with a good rifle, if to be had, or otherwise 
with a common firelock, bayonet, and cartouch-box, and 
also with a tomahawk, one pound of gunpowder, and 
four pounds of ball at least, fitted, to the bore of his 
gun; that he be clothed in a hunting shirt, by way of 
uniform; and that he use all endeavour, as soon as 
possible, to become acquainted with the military exer- 
cise for infantry, appointed to be used by his majesty in 
the year 1 764. 

" That each troop of horse consist of thirty, exclu- 
sive of officers; that every horseman be provided with 
a good horse, bridle, saddle, with pistols and holsters, a 
carbine, or other short firelock, with a bucket, a cut- 
ting sword, or tomahawk, one pound of gunpowder, 
and four pounds of ball, at the least; and use the utmost 
diligence in training and accustoming his horse to stand 
the discharge of fire-arms, and in making himself ac- 
quainted with the military exercise for cavalry. 

"That in order to make a further and more ample 
provision of ammunition, it be recommended to the 
committees of the several counties, that they collect 
from their constituents, in such manner as shall be most 
agreeable to them, so much money as will be sufficient 
to purchase half a pound of gunpowder, one pound of 
lead, necessary flints and cartridge-paper, for every 
titheable person in their county; that they immediately 
take effectual measures, for the procuring such gun- 
powder, lead, flints, and cartridge-paper, and dispose 
thereof, when procured, in such place or places of 
safety as they may think best: and it is earnestly recom- 
mended to each individual, to pay such proportion of 
the money necessary for these purposes, as by the re- 
spective committees shall be judged requisite. 

" That as it may happen that some counties, from 



128 SKETCHES OF THE 

their situation, may not be apprised of the most certain 
and speedy method of procuring the articles before 
mentioned, one general committee should be appointed, 
whose business it should be, to procure for such coun- 
ties as may make application to them, such articles, and 
so much thereof, as the monies wherewith they shall 
furnish the said committee will purchase, after deduct- 
ing the charges of transportation, and other necessary 
expenses/' 

At the same session of the convention, I find that 
the alert and enquiring spirit of Mr. Henry laid hold of 
another instance of royal misrule. Governor Dunmore, 
it seems, by a recent proclamation, had declared, that 
his majesty had given orders for all vacant lands 
within this colony to be put up in lots at public 
sale; and that the highest bidder for such lots should 
be the purchaser thereof, and should hold the same, 
subject to a reservation of one halfpenny per acre, by 
way of annual quit-rent, and of all mines of gold, sil- 
ver, and precious stones. These terms were deemed 
an innovation on the established usage of granting lands 
in this colony; and this sagacious politician saw in the 
proceeding, not only an usurpation of power, but a 
great subduction of the natural wealth of the colony, 
and the creation, moreover, of a separate band of 
tenants and retainers, devoted to the vilest measures of 
the crown. With a view, therefore, to defeat this mea- 
sure, he moved the following resolution, which was 
adopted: 

" Resolved, That a committee be appointed to en- 
quire, whether his majesty may of right advance the 
terms of granting lands in this colony, and make report 
thereof to the next general assembly or convention; and 
that in the mean time it be recommended to all persons 



LIFE OF HENRY. 129 

whatever, to forbear purchasing or accepting lands on 
the conditions before mentioned." Of this committee 
he was of course the chairman; and the other members 
were Richard Bland, Thomas Jefferson, Robert C. 
Nicholas, and Edmund Pendleton, esquires. 

The convention having adopted a plan for the encour- 
agement of arts and manufactures in this colony, and 
re-appointed their former deputies to the continental 
congress, with the substitution of Mr. Jefferson for Mr. 
Peyton Randolph, in case of the non-attendance of 
the latter;* and having also provided for a re-election 
of delegates to the next convention, came to an ad- 
journment.! 

* He was speaker of the house of burgesses, a call of which was expected, 
and did accordingly take place. 

f It is curious to read in the file of papers from which the foregoing pro- 
ceedings are extracted, and immediately following them, this proclamation 
of his excellency lord Dunmore : — 

" Whereas, certain persons, styling themselves delegates of several of his 
majesty's colonies in America, have presumed, without his majesty's authori- 
ty or consent, to assemble together at Philadelphia, in the months of Sep- 
tember and October last, and have thought fit, among other unwarrantable 
proceedings, to resolve that it will be necessary that another congress should 
be held at the same place on the 10th of May next, unless redress of 
certain pretended grievances be obtained before that time : and to recom- 
mend that all the colonies of North America should choose deputies to 
attend such congress : lam commanded by the king; and I do accordingly issue 
this my proclamation, to require all magistrates and other officers to use 
their utmost endeavours to prevent any such appointment of deputies, 
and to exhort all persons whatever within this government to desist 
from such an unjustifiable proceeding, so highly displeasing to his ma- 
jesty." 

This proclamation was published while the convention was in ses- 
sion, and was obviously designed to have an effect on their proceedings. 
It passed by them, however, " as the idle wind which they regarded not." 
The age of proclamations was gone, and the glory of regal governors 
pretty nearly extinguished for ever. 

It ought not to be omitted, however, that this very convention passed re- 
solutions complimentary to lord Dunmore, and the troops which he had > 
commanded in an expedition of the preceding year against the Indians : a J 
compliment which, as we shall see was afterwards found to be unmerited. As 

R 



130 SKETCHES OF THE 



SECTION V. 

The storm of the revolution now began to thicken. 
The cloud of war had actually burst on the New- 
England states, while as yet the middle and southern 
colonies were in comparative repose. The calm, how- 
ever, was deceitful, and of short duration ; and, so far as 
Virginia was concerned, had been occasioned rather 
by the absence of governor Dunmore on an Indian ex- 
pedition, than any disposition on his part to favour the 
colony. His return to Williamsburg was the signal for 
violence. 



the resolution in regard to lord Dunmore does honour to the candour of the 
convention, and shows also how little personality there was in the contest, I 
take leave to subjoin it. 

" Resolved, unanimously, That the most cordial thanks of the people of 
this colony are a tribute justly due to our worthy governor, lord Dunmore, 
for his truly noble, wise, and spirited conduct, on the late expedition against 
our Indian enemy — a conduct which at once evinces his excellency's atten- 
tion to the true interests of this colony, and a zeal in the executive department 
which no dangers can divert, or difficulties hinder, from achieving the most 
important services to the people who have the happiness to live under his 
administration." 

Lord Dunmore was not a man of popular manners ; he had nothing of the 
mildness, the purity ; the benevolence and suavity of his predecessor. On 
the contrary, he is represented as having been rude and offensive ; coarse 
in his figure, his countenance, and his manners. Yet he received from the 1 
house of burgesses the most marked respect. Thus, in 1774, while the 
liberties of the colonies were bleeding at every pore, and while the house 
was smarting severely, under the recent news of the occlusion of the port 
of Boston, they paid to lady Dunmore, who had just arrived at Williamsburg, 
the most cordial and elegant attentions, congratulated his lordship on 
this increase to his domestic felicity ; and even, after their abrupt disso- 
lution, complimented the inhabitants of the palace with a splendid ball 
and entertainment, in honour of the arrival of the countess Dunmore and 
her family. 



LIFE OF HENRY. 131 

It seems to have been a matter of concert among the 
colonial governors, if indeed the policy was not dic- 
tated by the British court, to disarm the people of all 
the colonies at one and the same time, and thus incapa- 
citate them for united resistance. 

To give effect to this measure, the export of powder 
from Great Britain was prohibited; and an attempt was 
generally made about the same period to seize the pow- 
der and arms in the several provincial magazines. Gage, 
the successor of Hutchinson in the government of Mas- 
sachusetts, set the example, by a seizure of the ammuni- 
tion and military stores at Cambridge, and the powder in 
the magazines at Charlestown and other places. His ex- 
ample was followed by similar attempts in other colonies 
to the north. And on Thursday, the 20th of April, 1 775, 
captain Henry Collins, of the armed schooner Magda- 
len, then lying at Burwell's ferry, on James river, came 
up at the head of a body of marines, and, acting 
under the orders of lord Dunmore, entered the city of 
Williamsburg in the dead of the night, and carried off 
from the public magazine about twenty barrels of pow- 
der, which he placed on board his schooner before the 
break of day. Clandestine as the movement had been, 
the alarm was given to the inhabitants early on the next 
morning. Their exasperation may be easily conceived. 
The town was in tumult. A considerable body of them 
flew to arms, with the determination to compel Capt. 
Collins to restore the powder. With much difficulty, 
however, they were restrained by the graver inhabitants 
of the town, and by the members of the common coun- 
cil, who assured them that proper measures should be 
immediately used to produce a restoration of the pow- 
der, without the effusion of human blood. The council 



132 SKETCHES OP THE 

therefore met in their corporate character, and ad- 
dressed the following letter to governor Dunmore. 

" To his excellency the right hon. John earl of Dun- 
more, his majesty's lieutenant, governor-general, 
and commander in chief of the colony and dominion 
of Virginia: — The humble address of the mayor, 
recorder, aldermen, and common council of the 
city of Williamsburg: 

* My Lord, 

" We, his majesty's dutiful and loyal subjects, the 
mayor, recorder, aldermen, and common council of the 
city of Williamsburg, in common hall assembled, hum- 
bly beg leave to represent to your excellency, that the 
inhabitants of this city were this morning exceedingly 
alarmed by a report that a large quantity of gunpowder 
was, in the preceding night, while they were sleeping in 
their beds, removed from the public magazine in this 
city, and conveyed, under an escort of marines, on 
board one of his majesty's armed vessels lying at a ferry 
on James river. 

" We beg leave to represent to your excellency, that, 
as the magazine was erected at the public expense of 
this colony, and appropriated to the safe keeping of 
such munition as should be there lodged, from time to 
time, for the protection and security of the country, 
by arming thereout such of the militia as might be 
necessary in cases of invasions and insurrections, they 
humbly conceive it to be the only proper repository to 
be resorted to in times of imminent danger. 

" We further beg leave to inform your excellency, 
that from various reports at present prevailing in dif- 



LIFE OP HENRY. 133 

ferent parts of the country, we have too much reason 
to believe that some wicked and designing persons 
have instilled the most diabolical notions into the minds 
of our slaves; and that, therefore, the utmost attention 
to our internal security is become the more neces- 
sary. 

" The circumstances of this city, my lord, we con- 
sider as peculiar and critical. The inhabitants, from 
the situation of the magazine in the midst of their city, 
have, for a long tract of time, been exposed to all those 
dangers which have happened in many countries from 
explosions, and other accidents. They have, from time 
to time, thought it incumbent on them to guard the 
magazine. For their security they have, for some time 
past, judged it necessary to keep strong patrols on foot: 
in their present circumstances, then, to have the chief 
and necessary means of their defence removed, cannot 
but be extremely alarming. 

" Considering ourselves as guardians of the city, we 
therefore humbly desire to be informed by your excel- 
lency, upon what motives, and for what particular pur- 
pose, the powder has been carried off in such a manner; 
and we earnestly entreat your excellency to order it to 
be immediately returned to the magazine." 

To which his excellency returned this verbal an- 
swer: 

" That hearing of an insurrection in a neighbouring 
county, he had removed the powder from the magazine, 
where he did not think it secure, to a place of perfect 
security; and that, upon his word and honour, whenever 
it was wanted on any insurrection, it should be delivered 
in half an hour; that he had removed it, in the night 
time, to prevent any alarm, and that captain Collins had 
his express commands for the part he had acted: 



134 SKETCHES OP THE 

he was surprised to hear the people were under arms 
on this occasion, and that he should not think it 
prudent to put powder into their hands in such a 
situation." 

This conditional promise of the return of the powder, 
supported by the influence of Mr. Peyton Randolph, 
Mr. Robert C. Nicholas, and other characters of weight, 
had the effect, it seems, of quieting the inhabitants 
for that day. On the succeeding night, however, a 
new alarm took place, on a report that a number of 
armed men had again landed from the Magdalen, about 
four miles below the city, with a view, it was presumed., 
of making another visit of nocturnal plunder. The 
inhabitants again flew to arms; but, on the interposition 
of the same eminent citizens, the ferment was allayed,, 
and nothing more was done than to strengthen the 
usual patrol for the defence of the city. On the next 
day, Saturday the 22 d of April, when every thing was 
perfectly quiet, lord Dunmore, with rather more heat 
than discretion, sent a message into the city, by one of 
the magistrates, and which his lordship had delivered 
with the most solemn asseverations, that if any insult 
were offered to Capt. Foy (a British captain residing at 
the palace as his secretary, and considered to be the 
instigator of the governor to his violences) or to Capt. 
Collins, he would declare freedom to the slaves, and lay 
the town in ashes; and he added, that he could easily 
depopulate the whole country. At this time both Capt 
Foy and Collins were and had been continually walk- 
ing the streets, at their pleasure, without the slightest 
indication of disrespect. The effect of a threat, so 
diabolically ferocious, directed towards a people who 
had ever shown him and his family such enthusiastic 
marks of respect and attention, and following so directly 



LIFE OF HENRY. 135 

on the plunder of the magazine, will be readily con- 
ceived. Yet it broke not out into any open act. His 
lordship remained unmolested even by a disrespectful 
look. The augmented patrol was kept up; but no 
defensive preparation was made by the inhabitants of 
the city. 

The transactions which were passing in the metro- 
polis circulated through the country with a rapidity 
proportioned to their interest, and with this farther 
aggravation, which was also true in point of fact, that in 
addition, to the clandestine removal of the powder, the 
governor had caused the muskets in the magazine to be 
stripped of their locks. 

In the midst of the irritation excited by this intelli- 
gence, came the news of the bloody battles of Lexington 
and Concord, resulting from an attempt of the governor, 
general Gage, to seize the military stores deposited at 
the latter place. The system of colonial subjugation 
was now apparent: the effect was instantaneous. The 
whole country flew to arms. The independent com- 
panies, formed in happier times for the purpose of mili- 
tary discipline, and under the immediate auspices of 
lord Dunmore himself, raised the standard of liberty in 
every county. By the 27th of April, there were assem- 
bled at Fredericksburg, upwards of seven hundred men 
well armed and disciplined, " friends of constitutional, 
liberty and America/' Their march, however, was 
arrested by a letter from Mr. Peyton Randolph, in reply 
to an express, and received on the 29th, by which they 
were informed that the gentlemen of the city and neigh- 
bourhood of Williamsburg had had full assurance from 
his excellency, that the affair of the powder should be 
accommodated, and advising that the gentlemen of 
Fredericksburg should proceed no farther. On the receipt 



136 SKETCHES OF THE 

of this letter, a council was held of one hundred and two 
members, delegates of the provincial convention, and offi- 
cers and special deputies of fourteen companies of light 
horse, then rendezvoused on the ground; who, after the 
most spirited expression of their sentiments on the con- 
duct of the governor, and after giving a mutual pledge to 
be in readiness at a moment's warning, to re-assemble, 
and by force of arms to defend the laws, the liberty, 
and rights of this or any sister colony from unjust and 
wicked invasion, advised the return of the several com- 
panies to their respective homes; and also ordered that 
expresses should be despatched to the troops assembled 
at the Bowling Green, and also to the companies from 
Frederick, Berkeley, Dunmore, and such other counties 
as were then on their march, to return them thanks for 
their cheerful offers of service, and to acquaint them 
with the determination then taken. By way of parody 
on the governor's conclusion of the proclamations, by 
which he was striving to keep down the spirit of the 
country, " God save the king," the council conclud- 
ed their address with " God save the liberties of 
America." 

Mr. Henry, however, was not disposed to let this 
incident pass off so lightly. His was a mind that watch- 
ed events with the coolness and sagacity of a veteran 
statesman. He kindled, indeed, in the universal indig- 
nation which the conduct of the governor was so well 
calculated to excite; seeing clearly the inconvenience 
which the colony must experience in the approaching 
contest, from the loss of even that small store of ammu- 
nition. This, however, was a minor object in his 
esteem. What he deemed of much higher importance 
was, that that blow, which must be struck sooner or 
later, should be stnick at once, before an overwhelming 



LIFE OF HENRY. 137 

force should enter the colony; that that habitual de- 
ference and subjection which the people were accus- 
tomed to feel towards the governor, as the representa- 
tive of royalty, and which bound their spirits in a kind 
of torpid spell, should be dissolved and dissipated; that 
the military resources of the country should be de- 
veloped; that the people might see and feel their 
strength by being brought out together; that the revolu- 
tion should be set in actual motion in the colony; that the 
martial prowess of the country should be awakened, 
and the soldiery animated by that proud and reso- 
lute confidence, which a successful enterprise in the 
commencement of a contest never fails to inspire. 
These sentiments were then avowed by him to two 
confidential friends;* to whom he farther declared that 
he considered the outrage on the magazine as a most 
fortunate circumstance; and as one which would rouse 
the people from north to south. " You may in vain 
talk to them," said he, " about the duties on tea, &c. 
These things will not affect them. They depend on 
principles too abstracted for their apprehension and 
feeling. But tell them of the robbery of the magazine, 
and that the next step will be to disarm them, you bring 
the subject home to their bosoms, and they will be ready 
to fly to arms to defend themselves." 

To make of this circumstance all the advantage 
which he contemplated, as soon as the intelligence 
reached him from Williamsburg, he sent express riders 
to the members of the Independent Company of Ha- 
nover, who were dispersed and resided in different parts 
of the countiy, requesting them to meet him in arms, at 
New Castle, on the second of May, on business of the 

* Col. Richard Morris and captain George Dabney ; on the authority of 
Mr. Dabney. 

3 



138 SKETCHES OF THE 

highest importance to American liberty. In order to 
give greater dignity and authority to the decisions of that 
meeting, he convoked to the same place the county 
committee. When assembled, he addressed them with 
all the powers of his eloquence; laid open the plan on 
which the British ministry had fallen to reduce the 
colonies to subjection, by robbing them of all the means 
of defending their rights; spread before their eyes, in 
colours of vivid description, the fields of Lexington 
and Concord, still floating with the blood of their coun- 
trymen, gloriously shed in the general cause; showed 
them that the recent plunder of the magazine in Wil- 
liamsburg was nothing more than a part of the general 
system of subjugation; that the moment was now come in 
which they were called upon to decide, whether they 
chose to live free, and hand down the noble inheritance 
to their children, or to become hewers of wood, and 
drawers of water to those lordlings, who were them- 
selves the tools of a corrupt and tyrannical ministry — 
he painted the country in a state of subjugation, and 
drew such pictures of wretched debasement and abject 
vassalage, as filled their souls with horror and indigna- 
tion — on the other hand, he carried them, by the powers 
of his eloquence, to an eminence like Mount Pisgah; 
showed them the land of promise, which was to be won 
by their valour, under the support and guidance of 
heaven; and sketched a vision of America, enjoying 
the smiles of liberty and peace, the rich productions of 
her agriculture waving on every field, her commerce 
whitening every sea, in tints so bright, so strong, so 
glowing, as set the souls of his hearers on fire. He 
had no doubt, he said, that that God, who in former 
ages had hardened Pharaoh's heart, that he might show 
forth his power and glory in the redemption of his 



LIFE OF HENRY. 139 

chosen people, had, for similar purposes, permitted the 
flagrant outrages which had occurred in Williamsburg, 
and throughout the continent. Ijt was for them now 
to determine, whether they were worthy of this divine 
interference; whether they would accept the high boon 
now held out to them by heaven — that if they would, 
though it might lead them through a sea of blood, they 
were to remember that the same God whose power 
divided the Red Sea for the deliverance of Israel, still 
reigned in all his glory, unchanged and unchangeable — 
was still the enemy of the oppressor, and the friend of 
the oppressed — that he would cover them from their 
enemies by a pillar of cloud by day, and guide their feet 
through the night by a pillar of fire — that for his own 
part, he was anxious that his native county should dis- 
tinguish itself in this grand career of liberty and glory, 
and snatch the noble prize which was now offered to 
their grasp — that no time was to be lost — that their 
enemies in this colony were now few and weak — that it 
would be easy for them, by a rapid and vigorous move- 
ment, to compel the restoration of the powder which 
had been carried off, or to make a reprisal on the king's 
revenues in the hands of the receiver-general, which 
would fairly balance the account — that the Hanover 
volunteers would thus have an opportunity of striking 
the first blow in this colony, in the great cause of Ame- 
rican liberty, and would cover themselves with never- 
fading laurels. 

These were heads of his harangue. I presume not 
to give the colouring. That was Mr. Henry's own, and 
beyond the power of any man's imitation. The effect, 
however, was equal to his wishes. The meeting was in 
a flame, and the decision immediately taken, that the 



140 SKETCHES OF THE 

powder should be retrieved, or counterbalanced by a 
reprisal. 

Capt. Samuel Meredith, who had theretofore com- 
manded the Independent Company, resigned his com- 
mission in Mr. Henry's favour, and the latter gentleman 
was immediately invested with the chief command of 
the Hanover volunteers. Mr. Meredith accepted the 
commission of lieutenant; and the present Col. Parke 
Goodall was appointed the ensign of the company. Hav- 
ing received orders from the committee, correspondent 
with his own suggestions, Capt. Henry forthwith took up 
his line of march for Williamsburg. Ensign Goodall 
was detached, with a party of sixteen men, to cross the 
river into King William county, the residence of Richard 
Corbin, the king's receiver-general; to demand from 
him three hundred and thirty pounds, the estimated 
value of the powder; and, in the event of his refusal, 
to make him a prisoner. He was ordered, in this 
case, to treat his person with all possible respect and 
tenderness, and to bring him to Doncastle's ordinary, 
about sixteen miles above Williamsburg, where the 
ensign was required, at all events, to rejoin the main 
body. The detachment, in pursuance of their orders, 
reached the residence of the receiver-general some 
hours after bedtime, and a guard was stationed around 
the house until morning. About daybreak, however, 
the ladies of the family made their appearance, and 
gave to the commanding officer of the detachment the 
firm and correct assurance, that Col. Corbin was not at 
home; but that the house, nevertheless, was open to 
search, if it was the pleasure of the officer to make it. 
The manner of the assurance, however, was too satis- 
factory to render this necessary, and the detachment 



LIFE OF HENRY. 141 

hastened to form the junction with the main body which 
had been ordered. 

In the mean time, the march of this gallant corps, 
in arms, headed by a man of Mr. Henry's distinction, 
produced the most striking effects in every quarter. 
Correspondent companies started up on all sides, and 
hastened to throw themselves under the banners of 
Henry. It is believed that five thousand men, at least, 
were in arms, and were crossing the country to crowd 
around his standard, and support it with their lives. The 
march was conducted in the most perfect order, and 
with the most scrupulous respect to the country through 
which they passed. The ranks of the royalists were 
filled with dismay. Lady Dunmore with her family 
retired to the Fowey man of war, then lying off the 
town of Little York. Even the patriots in Williams- 
burg were daunted by the boldness and, as they deem- 
ed it, the rashness of the enterprise. Messenger after 
messenger was despatched to meet Mr. Henry on the 
way, and beg him to desist from his purpose, and dis- 
charge his men. It was in vain. He was inflexibly- 
resolved to effect the purpose of his expedition, or to 
perish in the attempt. The messengers were therefore 
detained, that they might not report his strength; and 
the march was continued with all possible celerity. 
The governor issued a proclamation, in which he de- 
nounced the movement, and called upon the people of 
the country to resist it. He could as easily have called 
spirits " from the vasty deep." He seems not to have 
relied much, himself, on the efficacy of his proclama- 
tion. The palace was therefore filled with arms, and 
a detachment of marines ordered up from the Fowey. 
Before daybreak, on the morning of the 4th of May, 
Capt. Montague, the commander of that ship, landed a 



142 SKETCHES OF THE 

party of men, with the following letter, addressed to 
the honourable Thomas Nelson, the president of his 
majesty's council. 

" Fowey, May 4th, 1775. 

" Sir, 

" I have this morning received certain information, 
that his excellency lord Dunmore, governor of Virginia, 
is threatened with an attack, at daybreak this morn- 
ing, at his palace in Williamsburg, and have thought 
proper to send a detachment from his majesty's ship 
under my command, to support his excellency: there- 
fore strongly pray you to make use of every endeavour 
to prevent the party from being molested and attacked, 
as in that case I must be under a necessity to fire upon 
this town. From 

" George Montague." 

Lord Dunmore however thought better of this subject, 
and caused Mr. Henry to be met at Doncastle's, about 
sunrise on the same morning, with the receiver-gene- 
ral's bill of exchange, for the sum required. It was 
accepted as a satisfaction for the powder, and the 
following receipt was passed by Mr. Henry. 

" Doncastle's ordinary, New Kent, May 4, 1775, re- 
ceived from the hon. Richard Corbin, esq. his majesty's 
receiver-general, 330/. as a compensation for the gun- 
powder lately taken out of the public magazine by the 
governor's order; which money I promise to convey to 
the Virginia delegates at the general congress, to be, 
under their direction, laid out in gunpowder for the 
colony's use, and to be stored as they shall direct, until 
the next colony, convention, or general assembly; unless 
it shall be necessary, in the mean time, to use the same 



LIFE OF HENRY. 143 

in the defence of this colony. It is agreed, that in case 
the next convention shall determine that any part of the 
said money ought to be returned to his majesty's 
said receiver-general, that the same shall be done 
accordingly. 

" Patrick Henry, jun/' 
" Test, 

" Samuel Meredith, 
Parke Good all." 

The march of the marines from the Fowey had, 
however, produced the most violent commotion both 
in York* and Williamsburg. Mr. Henry himself seemed 

* " The town of York being somewhat alarmed by a letter from Capt. Mon- 
tague, commander of his majesty's ship the Fowey, addressed to the hon. 
Thomas Nelson, esquire, president of his majesty's council in Virginia ; and 
a copy of said letter being procured, a motion was made, that the copy 
should be laid before the committee, and considered. The copy was read, 
and is as follows : 

' Fowey, May 4, 1775. 
'Sir, 

' I have this morning received certain information that his excellency 
the lord Dunmore, governor of Virginia, is threatened with an attack at day- 
break this morning, at his palace in Williamsburg, and have thought proper 
to send a detachment from his majesty's ship under my command to sup- 
port his excellency ; therefore strongly pray you to make use of every endea- 
vour to prevent the party from being molested and attacked, as in that case 
I must be under a necessity to fire upon this town. From 

' George Montague.' 
' To the hon. Thomas Nelson.' 

" The committee, together with Capt. Montague's letter taking into con- 
sideration the time of its being sent, which was too late to permit the presi- 
dent to use his influence, had the inhabitants been disposed to molest and 
attack the detachment; and further considering that Col. Nelson, who, had 
this threat been carried into execution, must have been a principal sufferer, 
was at that very moment exerting his utmost endeavours in behalf of govern- 
ment, and the safety of-his excellency's person, unanimously come to the 
following resolutions : 

" Resolved, That Capt. Montague in threatening to fire upon a defenceless 
town, in case of an attack upon the detachment, in which said town might not b e 



144 SKETCHES OF THE 

to apprehend that the public treasury would be the 
next object of depredation, and that a pretext would be 
sought for it in the reprisal which had just been made. 
He therefore addressed, from Doncastle's, the following 
letter to Robert Carter Nicholas, esq. the treasurer of 
the colony. 

"May 4, 1775. 

" Sir, 

" The affair of the powder is now settled, so as to 
produce satisfaction to me, and I earnestly wish to the 
colony in general. The people here have it in charge 
from Hanover committee, to tender their service to 
you, as a public officer, for the purpose of escorting 
the public treasury to any place in this colony, where 
the money would be judged more safe than in the city 
of Williamsburg. The reprisal now made by the 
Hanover volunteers, though accomplished in a manner 
less liable to the imputation of violent extremity, may 
possibly be the cause of future injury to the treasury. 
If, therefore, you apprehend the least danger, a suffi- 
cient guard is at your service. I beg the return of the 
bearer may be instant, because the men wish to know 



concerned, has testified a spirit of cruelty unprecedented in the annals of 
civilized times ; that, in his late notice to the president, he has added insult to 
cruelty ; and that, considering the circumstances already mentioned, of one of 
the most considerable inhabitants of said town, he has discovered the most 
hellish principles that can actuate a human mind. 

"Resolved, That it be recommended to the inhabitants of this town, and 
to the country in general, that they do not entertain or show any other 
mark of civility to Capt. Montague, besides what common decency and 
absolute necessity require. 

" Resolved, That the clerk do transmit the above proceedings to the pub- 
lic printers to be inserted in the Virginia gazettes. 
(A true copy.) 

" William Russell, Clk. Com." 



LIFE OF HENRY. 145 

their destination. With great regard, I am, sir, your 
most humble servant, 

" Patrick Henry, jun." 

To this letter an answer was received from Mr. 
Nicholas, importing that he had no apprehension of 
the necessity, or propriety of the proffered service: and 
Mr. Henry understanding, also, that the private citizens 
of Williamsburg were in a great measure quieted from 
their late fears for their persons and property, judged it 
proper to proceed no farther. Their expedition having 
been crowned with success, the volunteers returned in 
triumph to their respective homes. The committee of 
Hanover again met; gave them their warmest thanks for 
the vigour and propriety with which they had conducted 
the enterprise; and returned their acknowledgments, in 
suitable terms, to the many volunteers of the different 
counties, who joined and were marching, and ready to 
co-operate with the volunteer company of Hanover. 

Two days after the return of the volunteers, and 
when all was again quiet, the governor thundered the 
following anathema from the palace: 

" By his excellency, the right hon. John Earl of 
Dunmore, his majesty's lieutenant and governor- 
general of the colony and dominion of Virginia, and 
vice-admiral of the same: 

" A PROCLAMATION. 

« Virginia, to wit: 

" Whereas, I have been informed, from undoubted 
authority, that a certain Patrick Henry, of the county 
of Hanover, and a number of deluded followers, have 
taken up arms, chosen their officers, and styling them- 

T 



146 SKETCHES OP THE 

selves an Independent Company, have marched out of 
their county, encamped, and put themselves in a posture 
of war; and have written and despatched letters to 
divers parts of the country, exciting the people to join 
in these outrageous and rebellious practices, to the 
great terror of all his majesty's faithful subjects, and in 
open defiance of law and government; and have com- 
mitted other acts of violence, particularly in extorting 
from his majesty's receiver-general the sum of three 
hundred and thirty pounds, under pretence of replacing 
the powder I thought proper to order from the maga- 
zine; whence it undeniably appears, that there is no 
longer the least security for the life or property of any 
man ; wherefore I have thought proper, with the advice 
of his majesty's council, and in his majesty's name, to 
issue this my proclamation, strictly charging all persons 
upon their allegiance, not to aid, abet, or give counte- 
nance to the said Patrick Henry, or any other persons 
concerned in such unwarrantable combinations; but, on 
the contrary, to oppose them and their designs by every 
means; which designs must otherwise inevitably involve 
the whole country in the most direful calamity, as they 
will call for the vengeance of offended majesty, and 
the insulted laws, to be exerted here to vindicate the 
constitutional authority of government. 

" Given under my hand and the seal of the colony, at 
Williamsburg, this 6th day of May, 1775, and in 
the 15th year of his majesty's reign. 

" Dunmore." 

*' God save the King." 

But lord Dunmore's threats and denunciations had no 
other effect than to render more conspicuous and more 
honourable the man who was the object of them. 



LIFE OP HENRY. 147 

Mr. Henry, who had been on the point of setting out 
for congress at the time when he had been called off by 
the intelligence from Williamsburg, now resumed his 
journey, and was escorted in triumph by a large party 
of gentlemen, as far as Hooe^s ferry on the Potomack. 
Messengers were sent after him from all directions, 
bearing the thanks and the applauses of his assembled 
countrymen, for his recent enterprise: and in such 
throngs did these addresses come, that the necessity of 
halting to read and answer them converted a journey 
of one day into a triumph of many. Thus, the same 
man, whose genius had in the year 1 765 given the first 
political impulse to the revolution, had now the addi- 
tional honour of heading the first military movement in 
Virginia, in support of the same cause. 



148 SKETCHES OF THE 



SECTION VI. 

I cannot learn that Mr. Henry distinguished himself 
peculiarly at this session of congress. The spirit of 
resistance was sufficiently excited; and nothing re- 
mained but to organize that resistance, and to plan and 
execute the details which were to give it effect. In 
business of this nature, Mr. Henry, as we have seen, was 
not efficient. It has been already stated, that he was 
unsuccessful in composition, of which m uch was done, 
and eminently done, at this session; and the lax habits 
of his early life had implanted in him an insuperable 
aversion to the drudgery of details. He could not 
endure confinement of any sort, nor the labour of close 
and solitary thinking. His habits were all social, and 
his mind delighted in unlimited range. His conclusions 
were never reached by an elaborate deduction of 
thought; he gained them as it were per saltum; yet with 
a certainty not less infallible than that of the driest and 
severest logician. It is not wonderful, therefore, that he 
felt himself lost amid the operations in which congress 
was now engaged; and that he enjoyed the relief which 
was afforded him, by a military appointment from his 
native state. It will be proper, however, to explain 
particularly the proceedings which led to this incident 
in the life of Mr. Henry. 

Shortly after the affair of the gunpowder, lord North's 
conciliatory proposition, popularly called the Olive 
Branch, arrived in America. Hereupon, the governor 
of Virginia called a meeting of the house of burgesses; 
and as if the quarrel were now completely over, lady 



LIFE OF HENRY. 149 

Dunmore and her family returned from the Fowey to 
the palace.* 

On Thursday, the first of June, the general assembly, 
according to the proclamation of lord Dunmore, met at 
the capitol in the city of Williamsburg. He addressed 
them with great earnestness on the alarming state of the 
colony; and exhibited the conciliatory proposition of 
the British ministry, as an advance on the part of the 
mother country, which it was the duty of the colonists 
to meet with gratitude and devotion. The council 
answered him in a manner perfectly satisfactory; but 
before he could receive the answer of the house of bur- 
gesses, an incident occurred, which drove his lordship 
precipitately from his palace, and terminated for ever 
all friendly relations between himself and the people of 
Virginia. 

It seems, that during the late ferment produced by the 

* If an estimate may be formed from the newspapers of the day, into which 
the people seem to have poured their feelings without reserve, that lady 
was eminently a favourite in this colony. Her residence here had been 
short ; yet the exalted virtues which marked her character, and those domes- 
tic graces and attractions which shone with the more lustre by contrast 
with his lordship, had already endeared her to the people ; and would have 
consecrated her person, and those of her children, amid the wildest tumult 
to which this colony could possibly be excited. The people had been ex- 
tremely wounded by her late departure for the Fowey : they considered it 
as a measure of his lordship's, and as an unjust reflection both upon the 
judgment and generosity of the people of this country. They had told him 
i ntelligibly enough, that they had formed a much more correct estimate of 
her worth than he himself appeared to have done ; and that so far from her 
being insecure in the bosom of a people who thus admired, respected, and 
loved her, his lordship would have acted much more wisely to have kept her 
near his person, and covered himself under the saci-ed shield which sancti- 
fied her in the eyes of Virginians. In proportion to their regret and mortifi- 
cation at her departure, was the ardour of delight with which they hailed 
her return. A paragraph in Purdie's paper assured her, " that her arrival 
at the palace was to the great joy of the citizens of Williamsburg and of 
the people of the whole country, who had the most unfeigned regard and 
affection for her ladyship, and wished her long to live amongst them." 



150 SKETCHES OF THE 

removal of the powder, and while Mr. Henry was on 
his march towards Williamsburg, some of the inha- 
bitants of the town, to the great offence of the graver 
citizens, had possessed themselves of a few of the guns 
which still remained in the magazine. This step gave 
great displeasure as well as alarm to the governor; and 
although the mayor and council, as well as all the more 
respectable inhabitants of the town, condemned it in 
terms as strong as his own, and sincerely united in the 
means which were used to recover the arms, yet his 
lordship continued to brood over it in secret, until, with 
the aid of the minions of the palace, he hatched a 
scheme of low and cruel revenge, sufficient of itself to 
cover him with immortal infamy. It was on Monday 
night, the 5th of June, that this scheme discovered itself. 
" Last Monday night/ 5 says Purdie, " an unfortunate 
accident happened to two persons of this city, who, with 
a number of others, had assembled at the magazine, to 
furnish themselves with arms. Upon their entering the 
door, one of the guns, which had a spring to it, and 
was charged eight fingers deep with swan shot, went 
off, and lodged two balls in one of their shoulders, 
another entered at his wrist, and is not yet extracted; the 
other person had one of his fingers shot off, and the next 
to it so much shattered as to render it useless, by which 
sad misfortune he is deprived of the means of procuring 
a livelihood by his business. Spring guns, it seems, 
were placed at other parts of the magazine, of which 
the public were totally ignorant; and certainly had any 
person lost his life, the perpetrator or perpetrators of 
this diabolical invention might have been justly branded 
with the opprobrious title of murderers. O temporal 
mores!" 
The indignation naturally excited by this piece of 



LIFE OP HENRY. 15l 

deliberate and barbarous treachery, which was at once 
traced to lord Dunmore, was farther aggravated by a 
discovery that several barrels of powder had been buri- 
ed in the magazine, with the purpose, it was reasonably 
conjectured, of being used as a mine, and thus produc- 
ing still more fatal destruction, when the occasion 
should offer. Early on the next morning, lord Dun- 
more with his family, including captain Foy, fled from 
the palace to return to it no more, and took shelter on 
board the Fowey, from the vengeance which he knew 
he so justly deserved. No commotion, however, had 
ensued to justify his retreat. The people, indeed, were 
highly indignant, but they were silent and quiet. The 
suggestions of his lordship's conscience had alone pro- 
duced his flight. He left behind him a message to the 
speaker and house of burgesses, in which he ascribed 
this movement to apprehensions for his personal safety ; 
stated that he should fix his residence on board the 
Fowey; that no interruption should be given to the 
sitting of the assembly; that he should make the access 
to him easy and safe; and thought it would be more 
agreeable to the house to send to him, from time to 
time, one or more of their members as occasion might 
require, than to put the whole body to the trouble of 
moving to be near him. 

On receiving this message, the house immediately 
resolved itself into a committee of the whole, and 
prepared an answer, in which they expressed their deep 
concern at the step which he had taken — assuring him 
that his apprehensions of personal danger were entirely 
unfounded; regretting that he had not expressed them 
to the house previous to his departure, since, from their 
zeal and attachment to the preservation of order and 
good government, they should have judged it their 



152 SKETCHES OF THE 

indispensable duty to have endeavoured to remove any 
cause of disquietude. They express the anxiety with 
which they contemplate the very disagreeable situation 
of his most amiable lady and her family, and assure him, 
that they should think themselves happy in being able 
to restore their perfect tranquillity, by removing all their 
fears. They regret his departure and the manner of 
it, as tending to keep up the great uneasiness which 
had of* late so unhappily prevailed in this country; and 
declare that they will cheerfully concur in any measure 
that may be proposed, proper for the security of himself 
and his family; they remind him how impracticable it 
will be to carry on the business of the session with any 
tolerable degree of propriety, or with that despatch 
which the advanced season of the year required, whilst 
his lordship was so far removed from them, and so in- 
conveniently situated; and conclude with entreating 
him, that he would be pleased to return with his lady 
and family to the palace, which, they say, they are per- 
suaded will give the greatest satisfaction, and be the 
most likely means of quieting the minds of the people. 
This communication was carried down to him by a 
deputation of two members of the council, and four of 
the house of burgesses; and in reply to language so 
respectful, and assurances so friendly and conciliatory, 
his lordship returned an answer, in which he charged 
them with having slighted his offers of respect and civi- 
lity, with giving countenance to the violent and disor- 
derly proceedings of the people, and with an usurpation 
of the executive power in ordering and appointing 
guards to mount in the city of Williamsburg, with the 
view, as was pretended, to protect the magazine, but 
which might well be doubted, as there then remained 
nothing therein which required being guarded: he 



LIFE OF HENRY. 153 

exhorts them to return within the pale of their consti- 
tutional power; to redress the many grievances which 
existed; to open the courts of justice; to disarm the in- 
dependent companies; and what was not less essential, 
by their own example, and every means in their power, 
to abolish the spirit of persecution which pursued, with 
menaces and acts of oppression, all his majesty's loyal 
and orderly subjects. For the accomplishment of which 
ends, he invited them to adjourn to the town of York, 
opposite to which the Fowey lay, where he promised 
to meet and remain with them till their business should 
be finished. But with respect to their entreaty that he 
would return to the palace, he represents to them that 
unless they closed in with the conciliatory proposition 
now offered to them by the British parliament, his return 
to Williamsburg would be as fruitless to the people, as 
possibly it flight be dangerous to himself. So that he 
places the event of his returning, on their acceptance of 
lord North's offer of conciliation. 

The house of burgesses now took up that propo- 
sition; and having examined it in every light, with the 
utmost attention, they conclude with a firm and dignified 
rejection of it, and an appeal " to the even-handed 
justice of that Being who doth no wrong; earnestly 
beseeching him to illuminate the councils, and prosper 
the endeavours, of those to whom America had con- 
fided her hopes, that, through their wise direction, 
we may again see re-united the blessings of liberty 
and prosperity, and the most permanent harmony with 
Great Britain."* 



* This vigorous and eloquent production is from the. same pen which drew 
the Declaration of American Independence. 

U 



154 SKETCHES OF THE 

A correspondence on another topic was now opened 
between the council and burgesses, and the governor 
Dunmore. The former addressed him with a request, 
that he would order a large parcel of arms which he 
had left in the palace to be removed to the public maga- 
zine, a place of greater safety. This he peremptorily 
refused; and ordered that those arms, belonging to the 
king, should not be touched without his express per- 
mission. In their reply, they say, that the arms may in 
some sort be considered as belonging to the king, as 
the supreme head of the government, and that they 
were properly under his lordship's direction; yet, they 
humbly conceived, that they were originally provided, 
and had been preserved, for the use of the country in 
cases of emergency. The palace, they say, had indeed 
been hitherto much respected, but not so much out of 
regard to the building, as the residence of his majesty's 
representative. Had his lordship thought fit to remain 
there, they would have had no apprehensions of danger ; 
but considering these arms at present as exposed to 
his lordship's servants, and every rude invader, the 
security derived from his lordship's presence could 
not now be relied on. They, therefore, again entreat 
him to order the removal of the arms to the magazine. 
They then proceed to state, that they cannot decline 
representing to him, that the important business of the 
assembly had been much impeded by his excellency's 
removal from the palace — that this step had deprived 
them of that free and necessary access to his lordship, 
to which they were entitled by the constitution of the 
country — that there were several bills of the last 
importance to the country now ready to be presented 
to his excellency for his assent. They complain of 
the inconvenience to which they had been put in 



LIFE OF HENRY. 155 

sending their members twelve miles to wait on his 
excellency, on board of one of his majesty's ships of 
war, to present their addresses — they state that they 
think it would be highly improper, and too great a 
departure from the constitutional and accustomed mode 
of transacting business, to meet his excellency at any 
other place than the capitol, to present such bills as 
were ready for his signature — and, therefore, beseech 
him to return for this purpose. 

To all this he gave a very short answer; that, as to 
the arms, he had already declared his intention, and 
conceived they were meddling with a subject which 
did not belong to them; he desired to know whom they 
designed by the term rude invader; that the disorders 
in Williamsburg and other parts of the country, had 
driven him from the palace; and that, if any inconve- 
nience had arisen to the assembly on that account, he 
was not chargeable with it; that they had not been 
deprived of any necessary or free access to him; that 
the constitution undoubtedly vested him with the power 
of calling the assembly to any place in the colony, which 
exigency might require; that not having been made 
acquainted, with the whole proceedings of the assembly, 
he knew of no bills of importance, which, if he were 
inclined to risk his person again among the people, the 
assembly had to present to him, nor whether they were 
such as he could assent to. 

In the course of their correspondence he required 
the house to attend him on board the Fowey, for the 
purpose of obtaining his signature to the bills; and some 
of the members, to prevent an actual dissolution of the 
government, and to give effect to the many necessary 
bills which they had passed, proposed to yield to this 
extraordinary requisition. The project, however, was 



156 SKETCHES OF THE 

exploded by a member's rising in his place, and relating 
the fable of the sick lion and the fox. 

The governor having thus virtually abdicated his 
office, the government was, in effect, dissolved. The 
house hereupon resolved, " That his lordship's message, 
requiring the house to attend him on board one of his 
majesty's ships of war, is a high breach of the rights 
and privileges of this house." "That the unreasonable 
delays thrown into the proceedings of this house by the 
governor, and his evasive answers to the sincere and 
decent addresses of the representatives of the people, 
give us great reason to fear, that a dangerous attack 
may be meditated against the unhappy people of this 
colony." " It is, therefore, our opinion, they say, that 
they prepare for the preservation of their property, and 
their inestimable rights and liberties with the greatest 
care and attention." "That we do and will bear faith 
and true allegiance to our most gracious sovereign 
George the III. our only lawful and rightful king: That 
we will, at all times, to the utmost of our power, and at 
the risk of our lives and properties, maintain and defend 
his government in this colony, as founded on the esta- 
blished laws and principles of the constitution: That 
it is our most earnest desire to preserve and strengthen 
those bonds of amity, with all our fellow-subjects in 
Great Britain, which are so very essential to the pros- 
perity and happiness of both countries." Having 
adopted these resolutions without a dissenting voice, 
they adjourned themselves to the 12th of October 
following; and the delegates were summoned to meet 
in convention at the town of Richmond, on the 17th 
of July * 

* On this occasion, Richard II. Lee, standing with two of the burgesses in 



LIFE OF HENRY. 157 

Immediately on the adjournment of the house of 
burgesses, a very full meeting of the citizens of Wil- 
liamsburg convened, on the call of Peyton Randolph, 
at the court house in that city, " to consider of the 
expediency of stationing a number of men there for 
the public safety; as well to assist the citizens in their 
nightly watches, as to guard against any surprise from 
our enemies;" whereupon, it was unanimously agreed 
(until the general convention should meet) to invite 
down from a number of counties, to the amount of two 
hundred and fifty men. Meanwhile, until they arrived, 
the neighbouring counties, they say, were kind enough 
to lend them their assistance. 

On the 29th of June, the Fowey ship and Magdalen 
schooner sailed from York; on board the latter went 
lady Dunmore, and the rest of the governor's family, 
bound for England; and the colony was for a short time 
relieved by the report, that the Fowey carried lord Dun- 
more and captain Foy, on a visit to general Gage, at 
Boston. This report, however, was unfounded. The 
Fowey merely escorted the Magdalen to the capes, and 
then returned again to her moorings before York. 
The Otter sloop of war, commanded by Capt. Squire, 
.thereupon fell down to the mouth of York river, with 
the intention of cruising along the coast, and seizing all 
provision vessels; and soon became distinguished, at 
least for the malignity of her attempts. The Fowey was 
relieved by the ship Mercury of 24 guns, John Macart- 



the porch of the capitol, inscribed with his pencil on a pillar of the capitol, 
these prophetic lines, from Shakspeare : 

" When shall we three meet again r 
In thunder, lightning, and in rain ; 
When the hurly-burly's done, 

When the battle's lost and ■won." 



158 SKETCHES OP THE 

ney, commander, and departed for Boston, carrying 
with her the now obnoxious Capt. Foy. The governor's 
domestics left the palace, and removed to his farm at 
Montibello, about six miles below Williamsburg; and 
the governor himself fixed his station at the town of 
Portsmouth. In this posture of things, on Monday, 'the 
24th of July, 1775, the colonial convention met at the 
city of Richmond. 

The proceedings of this convention were marked by 
a character of great decision and vigour. One of their 
first measures was an ordinance for raising and embo- 
dying a sufficient force for the defence and protection of 
this colony. By this ordinance it was provided, that two 
regiments of regulars, to consist of one thousand and 
twenty privates, rank and file, should be forthwith raised 
and taken into the pay of the colony; and a competent 
regular force was also provided for the protection of 
the western frontier. The whole colony was divided 
into sixteen military districts; with a provision, that a 
regiment of six hundred and eighty men, rank and file, 
should be raised on the eastern shore district, and a 
battalion of five hundred in each of the others; to be 
forthwith armed, trained, furnished with all military ac- 
coutrements, and ready to march at a minute's warning. 

A committee, called the committee of safety, was also 
organized, with functions and powers analogous to 
those of the executive department; and apparently 
designed to supply the vacancy occasioned by the gover- 
nor's abdication of that branch of the government. 

The convention now proceeded to the appointment 
of officers to command the regular forces. The lofty 
stand which Mr. Henry had taken in the American 
cause, his increasing popularity, and the prompt and 
energetic movement which he had made in the affair of 



LIFE OF HENRY. 159 

the gunpowder, brought him strongly before the view 
of the house; and he was elected the colonel of the 
first regiment, and the commander of all the forces 
i^aised, and to be raised, for the defence of the colony. 
Mr. William Woodford, who is said to have distin- 
guished himself in the French and Indian war, was 
appointed to the command of the second regiment. 

The place of rendezvous for the troops was the city 
of Williamsburg. Mr. Henry was at his post on the 
20th of September, examining the grounds adjacent to 
the city, for the purpose of selecting an encampment; 
and the place chosen was at the back of William and 
Mary college. The troops were recruited and poured 
in with wonderful rapidity. The papers of the day 
teem with the annunciation of company after company, 
both regulars and minute men, with the highest enco- 
miums on the appearance and spirit of the troops ; and 
had the purpose been offensive war, Col. Henry was 
soon in a situation to have annihilated any force that 
lord Dunmore could at that time have arrayed against 
him. But there was, in truth, something extremely 
singular and embarrassing in the situation of the parties 
in regard to each other. It was not war, nor was it peace. 
The very ordinance by which these troops were raised, 
was filled with professions of allegiance and fidelity to 
George the III. — professions whose sincerity there is the 
less reason to doubt, because they are confined to the 
exercise of his constitutional powers, and stand con- 
nected with an expression of their firm determination 
to resist any attempt on the liberties of the country. 
The only intelligible purpose, therefore, for which these 
troops were raised, was a preparation for defence; and 
for defence against an attempt to enforce the parlia- 
mentary taxes upon this colony. With respect to lord 



160 SKETCHES OF THE 

Dunmore, he was indeed considered as having aban- 
doned the duties of his office; yet still he was regarded 
as the governor of Virginia; and there seems to have 
been no disposition to offer violence to his person. 

Dunmore, on his part, considered the colony as in a 
state of open and general rebellion ; not merely design- 
ing to resist an attempt to enforce upon them an obnox- 
ious tax, but to subvert the regal government wholly 
and entirely; and had his power been equal to his 
wishes, there is no reason to doubt that he would have 
disarmed the colony; and hung up, without ceremony, 
the leaders of this traitorous revolt, as he affected to 
consider it. His impotence, however, and the aversion 
of the colonists to act otherwise than defensively, pro- 
duced a suspense full of the most painful anxiety. 

In the mean time, Capt. Squire, commander of his 
majesty's sloop the Otter, had been labouring through- 
out the summer with some success, to change the defen- 
sive attitude of the colony. He was engaged in cruising 
continually in James and York rivers, plundering the 
defenceless shores, and carrying off the slaves, wherever 
seduction or force could place them in his power. 
These piratical excursions had wrought up the citizens 
who were not in arms to a very high pitch of resent- 
ment; and an accident soon gave them an opportunity 
of partial reprisal, which they did not fail to seize. On 
the 2d of September, the captain, sailing in a tender, 
on a marauding expedition from James to York river, 
was encountered by a violent tempest, and his tender 
was driven on shore, upon Back river, near Hampton. 
It was night, and the storm still raging: — the captain 
and his men, distrusting (unjustly, as it would seem from 
the papers) the hospitality of the inhabitants, made their 
escape through the woods; the vessel was on the next 



LIFE OF HENRY. 161 

day discovered and burnt by the people of the neigh- 
bourhood. In consequence of this act, the captain 
addressed the following letter to the committee of the 
town of Hampton: 

" Otter sloop, Norfolk river, Sept. 10, 1775. 

" Gentlemen, 

" Whereas, a sloop tender, manned and armed in his 
majesty's service, was, on Saturday the 2d instant, in a 
violent gale of wind, cast on shore in Back river Eliza- 
beth county, having on board the under-mentioned 
king's stores, which the inhabitants of Hampton thought 
proper to seize: I am therefore to desire, that the king's 
sloop, with all the stores belonging to her, be immediate- 
ly returned; or the people of Hampton, who committed 
the outrage, must be answerable for the consequences. 
I am, gentlemen, your humble servant, 

" Matthew Squire." 

This letter, with a catalogue of the stores, having 
been communicated to the committee of Williamsburg, 
and by them having been laid before the commanding 
officer of the volunteers of that place, major James 
Innes, at the head of a hundred men, who courted the 
enterprise, flew to Hampton to repel the threatened 
invasion. Squire, however, satisfied himself for the 
present, by falling down to Hampton road, where he 
seized the passage boats, with the negroes in them, by 
way of reprisal, as he alleged, for the stores, &c. taken 
out of his tender when driven ashore in the late storm ; 
" which boats and negroes," adds Purdie's paper of the 
day, " it is likely he intends taking into the king's ser- 
vice, to send out a-pirating for hogs, fowls, &c. A very 
pretty occupation for the captain of one of his majesty's 

ships of war." The next paper announces the move- 

x 



162 SKETCHES OF THE 

ments of Squire by a paragraph, which I extract 
verbatim, as showing, in an amusing light, the spirit of 
the times, and as Camden says, " the plain and jolly 
mirth of our ancestors," even in the midst of misfor- 
tunes. " We hear that the renowned captain Squire, 
of his majesty's sloop Otter, is gone up the bay for 
Baltimore in Maryland; on his old trade, it is to be 
presumed, of negro-catching, pillaging farms and plan- 
tations of their stock and poultry, and other illustrious 
actions, highly becoming a Squire in the king's navy. 
Some say, his errand was to watch for a quantity of 
gunpowder intended for this colony; but that valuable 
is now safely landed where he dare not come to smell 
it" 

The same paper contains the following answer from 
the committee of Hampton to Squire's letter: 

" To Matthew Squire, esq. commander of his majesty's 
sloop Otter, lying in Hampton roads. 

" Hampton, September 16, 1775. 

" Sir, 

" Yours of the 10th instant, directed to the committee 
of the town of Hampton, reciting, that a sloop tender 
on his majesty's service was, on the 2d instant, cast on 
shore near this place, having on board some of the 
king's stores, which you say were seized by the inhabi- 
tants, and demanding an immediate return of the same, 
or that the people of Hampton must answer the conse- 
quences of such outrage, was this day laid before them, 
who knowing the above recital to be injurious and 
untrue, think proper here to mention the facts relative 
to this matter. The sloop, we apprehend, was not in 
his majesty's service, as we are well assured that you 



LIFE OF HENRY. 163 

were on a pillaging or pleasuring party; and although it 
gives us pain to use indelicate expressions, yet the treat- 
ment received from you calls for a state of the facts, 
in the simple language of truth, however harsh it may 
sound. To your own heart we appeal for the candour 
with which we have stated them — to that heart which 
drove you into the woods in the most tempestuous 
weather, in one of the darkest nights, to avoid the much 
injured and innocent inhabitants of this county, who 
had never threatened or ill used you — and who would 
at that time have received you, we are assured, with 
humanity and civility, had you made yourself and situa- 
tion known to them. Neither the vessel or stores were 
seized by the inhabitants of Hampton; the gunner, one 
Mr. Gray — and the pilot, one Mr. Ruth — who were 
employed by you on this party, are men, we hope, who 
will still assert the truth. From them divers of our 
members were informed, that the vessel and stores, 
together with a good seine (which you, without cause, 
so hastily deserted) were given up as irrecoverably lost, 
by the officers, and some of the proprietors, to one 
Finn, near whose house you were drove on shore, as a 
reward for his entertaining you, &c. with respect and 
decency. 

"The threats of a person whose conduct hath 
evinced that he was not only capable, but desirous of 
doing us, in our then defenceless state, the greatest in- 
justice, we confess, were somewhat alarming; but with 
the greatest pleasure we can inform you, our apprehen- 
sions are now removed. 

" Although we know that we cannot legally be called 
to account for that which you are pleased to style an 
outrage, and notwithstanding we have hitherto, by you, 
been treated with iniquity, we will, as far as in our 



164 SKETCHES OF THE 

power lies, do you right upon just and equitable 
terms. 

" First. We, on behalf of the community, require 
from you the restitution of a certain Joseph Harris, the 
property of a gentleman of our town, and all other our 
slaves whom you may have on board; which said Harris, 
as well as other slaves, hath been long harboured, and 
often employed, with your knowledge, (as appeared to 
us by the confession of Ruth and others, and is well 
known to all your men,) in pillaging us, under cover of 
night, of our sheep and other live stock. 

" Secondly. We require that you will send on shore 
all boats, with their hands, and every other thing you 
have detained on this occasion. 

" And lastly. That you shall not, by your own arbi- 
trary authority, undertake to insult, molest, interrupt, or 
detain, the persons or property of any one passing to 
and from this town, as you have frequently done for some 
time past. 

" Upon complying with those requisitions, we will 
endeavour to procure every article left on our shore, 
and shall be ready to deliver them to your pilot and 
gunner, of whose good behaviour we have had some 
proofs. We are, &c. 

iC The Committee of Elizabeth City county 
and town of Hampton" 

In the mean time Squire's threat against Hampton 
was not an empty one, as is proven by the following ac- 
count of the attempt to execute it: the article is extract- 
ed from a supplement to Purdie^s paper of October 
27th, 1775. 

" After lord Dunmore, with his troops and the navy, 
had been for several weeks seizing the the persons and 



LIFE OF HENRY. 165 

property of his majesty's peaceable subjects in this 
colony — on Wednesday night last, a party from an 
armed tender landed near Hampton, and took away a 
valuable negro slave and a sail from the owner. Next 
morning there appeared off the mouth of Hampton 
river, a large armed schooner, a sloop, and three 
tenders, with soldiers on board, and a message was 
received at Hampton from captain Squire, on board 
the schooner, that he would that day land and burn 
the town; on which a company of regulars, and a 
company of minute men,* who had been placed there 
in consequence of former threats denounced against 
that place, made the best disposition to prevent their 
landing, aided by a body of militia who were suddenly 
called together on the occasion. The enemy accordingly 
attempted to land, but were retarded by some boats 
sunk across the channel for that purpose. Upon this 
they fired several small cannon at the provincials 
without any effect, who in return discharged their 
small arms so effectually, as to make the enemy move 
off, with the loss of several men, as it is believed. But 
they had in the mean time burnt down a house belonging 
to Mr. Cooper, on the river. On intelligence of this 
reaching Williamsburg, about nine o'clock at night, 
a company of riflemen was despatched to the aid of 
Hampton, and the colonel of the 2d regiment sent to 
take the command of the whole; who, with the company, 
arrived about eight o'clock next morning. The enemy 
had in the night cut through the boats sunk, and made 



* Captain George Nicholas commanded the regulars, and captain Lyne 
the minute men; captain Nicholas, therefore, as being in the regular service, 
had the command of the whole in the first skirmish. This gentleman was 
the eldest son of colonel Robert C Nicholas; and on the return of peace 
became highly distinguished both as a politician and lawyer. 



166 SKETCHES OF THE 

a passage for their vessels, which were drawn close up 
to the town, and began to fire upon it soon after the 
arrival of the party from Williamsburg; but as soon as 
our men were so disposed as to give them a few shot, 
they went off so hastily that our people took a small 
tender, with five white men, a woman, and two slaves, 
six swivels, seven muskets, some small arms, a sword, 
pistols, and other things, and several papers belonging 
to lieutenant Wright, who made his escape by jumping 
overboard and swimming away with Mr. King's man, 
who are on shore, and a pursuit it is hoped may over- 
take them. There were two of the men in the vessel 
mortally wounded; one is since dead, and the other near 
his end. Besides which, we are informed, nine were 
seen to be thrown overboard from one of the vessels. 
We have not a man even wounded. The vessels went 
over to Norfolk, and we are informed the whole force 
from thence is intended to visit Hampton this day. If 
they should, we hope our brave troops are prepared for 
them; as we can with pleasure assure the public, that 
every part of them behaved with spirit and bravery, and 
are wishing for another skirmish." 

The next paper contains the following card to captain 
Squire; which is inserted merely as another specimen 
of the character of the times: 

" Williamsburg, November 3d. 

" The riflemen and soldiers of Hampton desire their 
compliments to captain Squire and his squadron, and 
wish to know how they approve the reception they 
met with last Friday. Should he incline to renew his 
visit, they will be glad to see him; otherwise, in point 
of complaisance, they will be under the necessity of 
returning the visit. If he cannot find the ear that was 



LIFE OF HENRV. 167 

cut off, they hope he will wear a ivig to hide the mark; 
for perhaps it may not be necessary that all should 
know chance had effected that which the laws ought to 
have done." 

In the mean time lord Dunmore, with a motley band 
of tories, negroes, and recruits from St. Augustine's, 
was " cutting such fantastic capers" in the country 
round about Norfolk, as made it necessary to crush 
him or drive him from the state. With this view, the 
committee of safety (who, by their constitution, were 
authorized to direct all military movements) detached 
colonel Woodford at the head of about eight hundred 
men, to cross James river at Sandy Point, and go in 
pursuit of his lordship. Colonel Henry himself had 
been anxious for this service, and is said to have 
solicited it in vain. But the committee of safety* seem 
to have distrusted too much his want of military ex- 
perience, to confide to him so important an enterprise. 
The disgust which Mr. Henry had conceived at this 
palpable reflection on his military capacity, was in- 
creased by colonel Woodford's refusal to acknowledge 
his superiority in command. This gentleman, after his 
departure from Williamsburg on the expedition against 

* The committee of safety was composed of the following - gentlemen: 
Edmund Pendleton, George Mason, hon. John Page, Richard Bland, Thomas 
Ludwell Lee, Paul Carrington, Dudley Digges, William Cabell, Carter 
Braxton, James Mercer, and John Tabb, esquires. 

The clause of the ordinance of convention which authorized this committee 
to direct all military movements, is the following : 

" And whereas it may be necessary for the public security, that the forces 
to be raised by virtue of this ordinance should, as occasion may require, be 
marched to different parts of the colony, and that the officers should be sub- 
ject to a proper control, lie it ordained by the authority aforesaid, That the 
officers and soldiers under such command shall in all things, not otherwise 
particularly provided for by this ordinance, and the articles established for 
their regulation, be under the control, and subject to the order of the 
general committe© of safety." 



168 SKETCHES OF THE 

Dunmore, considered himself as no longer under Mr. 
Henry's authority; and consequently addressed all his 
communications to the convention, when in session, and 
when not so, to the committee of safety. On the 6th 
December 1775, Mr. Henry sent an express to colonel 
Woodford, with the following letter: 

" On Virginia service. 

" To William Woodford, esq. colonel of the second 
regiment of the Virginia forces. 

" Head Quarters, Dec. 6th, 1775. 

" Sir, 

" Not hearing of any despatch from you for a long 
time, I can no longer forbear sending to know your 
situation, and what has occurred. Every one, as well 
as myself, is vastly anxious to hear how all stands with 
you. In case you think any thing could be done to aid 
and forward the enterprise you have in hand, please to 
write it. But I wish to know your situation particularly, 
with that of the enemy, that the whole may be laid 
before the convention now here. The number and 
designs of the enemy, as you have collected it, might 
open some prospects to us, that might enable us to form 
some diversion in your favour. The bearer has orders 
to lose no time, and return with all possible haste. I am, 
sir, your most humble servant, 

" P. Henry, jun." 
" P. S. Capt. Alexander's company is not yet come. 

" Col. Woodford." 

To this letter, on the next day, he received the 
following answer from Col. Woodford: 



LIFE OF HENRY. 169 

" Great Bridge, 7th Dec. 1775. 

« Sir, 

" I received yours per express; in answer to 
which must inform you, that, understanding you were 
out of town, I have not written you before last Mon- 
day, by the return of the honourable the convention^ 
express, when i referred you to my letter to them for 
every particular respecting mine and the enemy's situa- 
tion. I wrote them again yesterday and this morning, 
which no doubt they will communicate to you, as com- 
manding officer of the troops at Williamsburg. When 
joined, I shall always esteem myself immediately under 
your command, and will obey accordingly; but when 
sent to command a separate and distinct body of 
troops, under the immediate instructions of the com- 
mittee of safety — whenever that body or the honour- 
able convention is sitting, I look upon it as my in- 
dispensable duty to address my intelligence to them, 
as the supreme power in this colony. If I judge 
wrong, I hope that honourable body will set me right. 
I would wish to keep up the greatest harmony between 
us, for the good of the cause we are engaged in; but 
cannot bear to be supposed to have neglected my duty, 
when I have done every thing I conceived to be so. 
The enemy are strongly fortified on the other side the 
bridge, and a great number of negroes and tories with 
them; my prisoners disagree as to the numbers. We 
are situate here in mud and mire, exposed to every 
hardship that can be conceived, but the want of provi- 
sions, of which our stock is but small, the men suffering 
for shoes; and if ever soldiers deserved a second blanket 
in any service, they do in this; our stock of ammuni- 
tion much reduced, no bullet moulds that were good for 
any thing sent to run up our lead, till those sent the 

Y 



170 SKETCHES OP THE 

other day by Mr. Page. If these necessaries and better 
arms had been furnished in time for this detachment, 
they might have prevented much trouble and great 
expense to this colony. Most of those arms I received 
the other day from Williamsburg are rather to be con- 
sidered as lumber, than fit to be put in men's hands, in 
the face of an enemy: with much repair, some of them 
will do; with those, and what I have taken from the 
enemy, hope to be better armed in a few days. I have 
written the convention, that it was my opinion, the 
greatest part of the first regiment ought immediately to 
march to the scene of action with some cannon, and a 
supply of ammunition, and every other necessary for 
war that the colony can muster, that a stop may be put 
to the enemy's progress. As to the Carolina troops and 
cannon, they are by no means what I was made to 
expect: 60 of them are here, and 100 will be here 
to-morrow; more, it is said, will follow in a few days, 
under Col. Howe; badly armed, cannon not mounted, 
no furniture to them. How long these people will 
choose to stay, is impossible for me to say; 99 in 100 
of these lower people rank tories. From all these 
informations, if you can make a diversion in my favour, 
it will be of service to the colony, and very acceptable 
to myself and soldiers; whom, if possible, I will endea- 
vour to keep easy under their hard duty, but begin to 
doubt whether it will be the case long/ 5 

In two days after the receipt of this letter, came the 
news of the victory of the Great Bridge, by which Col. 
Woodford at once threw into the shade the military 
pretensions of all the other state officers; a circum- 
stance not very well calculated to gild the pill of con- 
tumacy, which he had just presented to the commander 
in chief. The committee of safety had now a delicate 



LIFE OF HENRY. 171 

part to act between these two officers; they were 
extremely anxious to avoid the decision of the question 
which had arisen between them, seeing very distinctly 
that their decision could not but disappoint very pain- 
fully that gentleman who was their favourite officer. 
They seem to have been apprehensive that Col. Wood- 
ford would be led, by that decision, to resign in disgust; 
and were justly alarmed at the idea of losing the ser- 
vices of so valuable an officer, especially after the 
distinction which he had recently gained at the Great 
Bridge. Mr. Henry, however, insisted that the com- 
mittee or convention should determine the question, as 
being the only way to settle the construction of his com- 
mission. It was accordingly taken up, and decided by 
the following order of the committee. 

" In Committee — December muccraxy. 

" Resolved, unanimously, that colonel Woodford, 
although acting upon a separate and detached com- 
mand, ought to correspond with colonel Henry, and 
make returns to him at proper times of the state and 
condition of the forces under his command; and also 
that he is subject to his orders, when the convention, 
or the committee of safety is not sitting, but that whilst 
either of those bodies are sitting, he is to receive his 
orders from one of them/' 

The address winch was thought necessary in com- 
municating this resolution to colonel Woodford, is a 
proof of the very high estimate in which he was held by 
the committee; and the same evidence furnishes very de- 
cisive proof that colonel Henry had not owed his military 
appointment to the suffrage of those members of the com- 
mittee who maintained the correspondence. Thus, on 
the 13th of December, 1775, a member of the conven- 



172 SKETCHES OF THE 

tion addressed a letter to colonel Woodford, which 
seems to have been a preparative for the resolution of 
the committee, and is certainly suited, with great 
dexterity, to that object; the writer, after some intro- 
ductory observations, says, " Whether you are obliged 
to make your returns to colonel H — y, and to send 
your despatches through him to the convention and 
committee of safety, and also from those bodies through 
him to you, must depend upon the ordinance and the 
commission he bears. You will observe his commission 
is strongly worded, beyond what I believe was the 
intention of the person who drew it* — but the ordinance, 

* The committee appointed to draw up and report the forms of commis- 
sions, for the officers of the troops to be raised by order of the convention 
of the summer of 1775, were, Mr. Banister, Mr. Lawson, Mr. Walkins, and 
Mr. Holt ; and on the 26th of August, 1775, Mr. Banister from this commit- 
tee reported the following : — 

" Form of a commission for the colonel of the first regiment, and com- 
mander of the regular forces. 
" The committee of safety for the colony of Virginia, to Patrick Henry, esq. 
" Whereas, by a resolution of the delegates of this colony, in convention 
assembled, it was determined that you, the said Patrick Henry, esq. should 
be colonel of the first regiment of regulars, and commander in chief of all 
the forces to be raised for the protection and defence of this colony; and by 
an ordinance of the said convention it is provided, that the committee of 
safety should issue all military commissions: Now, in pursuance of the said 
power to us granted, and in conformity to the appointment of the convention, 
we, the said committee of safety, do constitute and commission you, the said 
Patrick Henry, esq. colonel of the first regiment of regulars, and commander 
in chief of all such other forces as may, by order of the convention, or committee of 
safety, be directed to act in conjunction with them ; and with the said forces, or 
any of them, you are hereby empowered to resist and repel all hostile inva- 
sions, and quell and suppress any insurrections which may be made or 
attempted against the peace and safety of this his majesty's colony and 
dominion. And we do require you to exert your utmost efforts for the pro- 
motion of discipline and order among the officers and soldiers under your 
command, agreeable to such ordinances, rules, and articles, which are now 
or hereafter may be, instituted for the government and regulation of the 
army ; and that you pay due obedience to all orders and instructions, which, 
from time to time, you may receive from the convention or committee of 



LIFE OF HENRY. 173 

I think, clearly gives the convention, and committee of 
safety acting under their authority, the absolute direc- 
tion of the troops. • The dispute between you must be 
occasioned, I suppose, (for I have not seen your letter to 
the colonel,) by disregard of him as commander, after 
the adjournment of the committee of safety, and before 
the meeting of the convention; at which time, I am apt 
to think, though I am not military man enough to 
determine, your correspondence should have been with 
him as commanding officer. I have talked with colonel 
Henry about this matter; he thinks he has been ill 
treated, and insists the officers under his command 
shall submit to his orders. I recommended it to him 
to treat the business with caution and temper; as a 
difference at this critical moment between our troops 
would be attended with the most fatal consequences; 
and took the liberty to assure him you would, I was 
certain, submit to whatever was thought just and rea- 
sonable. He has laid the letter before the committee of 
safety, whose sentiments upon the subject I expect you 
must have received before this. I hope it will not come 
before us,* but from what colonel Henry said, he inti- 
mated it must, as it could be no otherwise determined. 
My sentiments upon that delicate point, I partly com- 
municated upon the expected junction of the Carolina 

safety; to hold, exercise, and enjoy, the said office of colonel and com- 
manderin chief of the forces, and to perform and execute the power and 
authority aforesaid, and all other things which are truly and of right inci- 
dental to your said office, during the pleasure of the convention, and no 
longer. And -we do hereby require and command all officers and soldiers, and 
every person -whatsoever, in any -way concerned, to be obedient and assisting- to 
you in all things, touching the due execution of t/ds commission, according to the 
purport or intent thereof. 

" Given under our hands at , this day of , anno Dom. 177 ." 

* The convention. 



174 SKETCHES OF THE 

troops with ours, which I presume you have received. 
By your letter yesterday to the president, I find you 
agree with me. I very cordially congratulate you on 
the success at the Bridge and the reduction of the fort, 
which will give our troops the benefit of better and 
more wholesome ground. Your letter came to the 
convention just time enough to read it before we broke 
up, as it was nearly dark; it was however proposed 
and agreed, that the president should transmit you the 
approbation of your conduct in treating with kindness 
and humanity the unfortunate prisoners; and that your 
readiness to avoid dispute about rank with colonel 
Howe, they consider as a further mark of your attach- 
ment to the service of your country. I have had it in 
contemplation paying you a visit, but have not been able 
to leave the convention, as many of our members are 
absent, and seem to be in continual rotation, some going, 
others returning. We shall raise many more battalions, 
and, as soon as practicable, arm some vessels. A 
com*, or general, I suppose, will be sent us by the 
congress, as it is expected our troops will be upon 
continental pay. I pray God to protect you, and prosper 
all your endeavours." 

But the letter from the chairman of the committee, 
which enclosed the resolution, is a master-piece of 
address, so far as relates to the feelings of Col. Wood- 
ford; though certainly not well judged to promote the 
permanent harmony of those officers, by inspiring sen- 
timents of respect and subordination for the superior. 
The letter bears date on the 24th December, 1775: it 
is written in a strain of the most frank and conciliatory 
friendship — full of deserved eulogy on Col. Woodford's 
conduct — and very far from complimentary to the 
colonel of the first regiment. In relation to this gen- 



LIFE OP HENRY, 175 

tleman, (after having mentioned the resolution of raising 
other regiments,) he says, " The field officers to each 
regiment will be named here, and recommended to 
congress; in case our army is taken into continental 
pay, they will send commissions. A general officer will 
be chosen there, I doubt not, and sent us; with that 
matter, I Jwpe, we shall not intermeddle, lest it should 
be thought propriety requires our calling or rather 
recommending our present first officer to that station. 
Believe me, sir, the unlucky step of calling that gentle- 
man from our councils, where he was useful, into the 
field, in an important station, the duties of which he 
must, in the nature of things, be an entire stranger to, 
has given me many an anxious and uneasy moment. In 
consequence of this mistaken step, which can't now be 
retracted or remedied, for he has done nothing worthy 
of degradation, and must keep his rank, we must be 
deprived of the service of some able officers, whose 
honour and former ranks will not suffer them to act 
under him in this juncture, when we so much need 
their services; however, I am told, that Mercer, Buck- 
ner, Dangerfield, and Weedon, will serve, and are all 
thought of. I am also told, that Mr. Thurston and Mr. 
Millikin are candidates for regiments: the latter, I 
believe, will raise and have a German one. In the 
course of these reflections, my great concern is on your 
account. The pleasure I have enjoyed in finding your 
army conducted with wisdom and success, and your 
conduct meet with the general approbation of the con- 
vention and country, makes me more uneasy at a 
thought that the country should be deprived of your 
services, or you made uneasy in it, by any untoward 
circumstances. I had seen your letter to our friend Mr. 
Jones, (now a member of the committee of safety,) and 



176 SKETCHES OF THE 

besides that, Col. Henry has laid before the committee 
your letter to him, and desired our opinion, whether he 
was to command you or not. We never determined 
this till Friday evening; a copy of the resolution I 
enclose you. If this will not be agreeable, and prevent 
future disputes, I hope some happy medium will be sug- 
gested to effect the purpose, and make you easy; for the 
colony cannot part with you, while troops are necessary 
to be continued." 

Mr. Henry had too much sagacity not to perceive the 
light in which he was viewed by the committee of 
safety, and top much sensibility not to be wounded by 
the discovery.* His situation was indeed, at this time, 
most painfully embarrassing. The rank which he held 
was full of the promise of honour and distinction; he 
was the first officer of the Virginia forces; the celebrity 
which he had already attained among his countrymen, 
not only by his political resistance to the measures 
of the British parliament, but by the bold and daring 
military enterprise which he had headed the preceding 
year, in the affair of the gunpowder, led his coun- 
trymen to expect, that the appointment which he now 
held would not be a barren one, but that he would 
mark it with the characters of his extraordinary genius, 
and become as distinguished in the field as he had been 
in the senate. He knew that these expectations were 
entertained, and had every disposition to realize them; 
but his wishes and his hopes were perpetually over-ruled 
by the committee of safety, who commanded over him, 
and who gratuitously distrusting his capacity for war, 
would give him no opportunity of making trial of it. 
Yet Mr. Henry, untried, has been most unjustly slighted 
as a soldier, and spoken of as a mere military cipher! 
If I have not been misinformed, some of those who 



LIFE OF HENRY. 177 

composed this very committee did, in after times, 
frequently allude to this period of his life, to prove the 
practical inutility of his character, and have applied to 
him the saying, which Wilkes applied to lord Chatham, 
that " all his power and efficacy was seated in his 
tongue."* What figure he might have made in war, 
had the opportunity been allowed him, can now be only 
matter of speculation. His personal bravery, so far as 
I have heard, has never been called in question; or if 
it has, it has been without evidence: and neither his 
ardour in the public cause, or his strong natural sense, 
can with any colour of justice be disputed. If we 
superadd to these qualities that presence of mind, that 
promptitude, boldness, and novelty of view — that dex- 
terous address, and fertility of expedient, for which he 
was remarkable — I can see no reason to doubt, that he 
would have justified the highest expectations of his 
admirers, had he been permitted to command the expe- 
dition which he courted. As to his want of experience, 
the alleged ground for keeping him so ignominiously 
confined to head quarters, he possessed pretty nearly as 
much experience as colonel Washington had when he 
covered the retreat of Braddock's routed forces; as 
much, too, as those young generals of ours who have 
recently covered themselves with so much glory on our 
northern frontier: nor would it seem to comport with 
that respect which the committee owed to the conven- 
tion, from whom both colonel Henry and themselves 
had received their respective appointments, to arrogate 
the power of reversing the decree of the convention, 
and practically degrading the officer of their first choice. 



-homines inertissimi, quorum omnis vis, virlusque in lingua sita est. 

Sallust. Oratio sec. De Rep. Orel. 
Z 



178 SKETCHES OF THE 

It is certain that the committee were severely spoken of 
at the day, and that the people, as well as the soldiery, 
did not hesitate openly to impute their conduct towards 
Mr. Henry to personal envy. 

Other humiliations yet awaited him. Shortly after 
the affair of the Great Bridge, colonel Howe of North 
Carolina, at the head of five or six hundred men of 
that state, joined colonel Woodford; and taking the 
command of the whole, with the consent of the latter 
gentleman, who yielded to the seniority of his com- 
mission, marched with their united forces into Norfolk, 
which had been evacuated by the British. From this 
post, colonel Howe continually addressed his communi- 
cations to the committee of safety, or to the convention; 
and colonel Henry, after having seen his lawful rights 
and honours transferred, in the first instance, to an 
inferior officer of his own, had now the mortification 
of seeing himself completely superseded, and almost 
annihilated, by an officer from another state of only 
equal rank. 

But even this was not all: six additional regiments 
had been raised by the convention, and congress had 
been solicited to take the Virginia troops on continental 
establishment. They resolved to take the six new regi- 
ments, passing by the two first; a discrimination which 
conveys so palpable a reflection on the two first regi- 
ments, that it is difficult to account for it, except by the 
secret influence of that unfriendly star, which had 
hitherto controlled and obscured Mr. Henry's military 
destinies. The measure was so exactly adjusted to the 
wish expressed by colonel Woodford's correspondent, 
that congress would not devolve the chief command of 
the Virginia forces on colonel Henry, that it is difficult 
to avoid the suspicion that the suggestion came from 



LIFE OF HENRY. 179 

the same quarter. The convention, however, now 
interfered in behalf of their favourite; and remonstrated 
against this degradation of the officers of their first 
choice; earnestly recommending it to congress, if they 
adhered to their resolution of taking into continental pay 
no more than six regiments, to suffer the two first to stand 
first in the arrangement. This course was accordingly 
adopted; but, at the same time, commissions of brigadier 
general were forwarded by congress to colonel Howe and 
colonel Andrew Lewis. 

The reader, if he knows any thing of the scrupulous 
and even fastidious delicacy with which military officers 
watch the most distant reflection upon their competency, 
will not be surprised that Mr. Henry refused the 
continental commission of colonel,* which was now 



* The following is an exact copy of the commission sent from the general 
congress to the committee of safety, appointing colonel Henry to the com- 
mand of the first regiment, or battalion, in this colony, taken upon the con- 
tinental establishment, agreeable to the requisition of the last convention: 

"In Congress. 

" The delegates of the United Colonies of New Hampshire, Massachusetts 
Bay, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, 
the Counties of New Castle, Kent, and Sussex on Delaware, Maryland, 
Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, to Patrick 
Henry, esq. 

" We, reposing especial trust and confidence in your patriotism, valour, 
conduct, and fidelity, do, by these presents, constitute andappointyoutobe 
Colonel of the first battalion of Virginia forces, in the army of the United 
Colonies, raised for the defence of American liberty, and for repelling every 
hostile invasion thereof. You are, therefore, carefully and diligently to dis- 
charge the duty of colonel, by doing and performing all manner of things 
thereunto belonging. And we do strictly charge and require all officers and 
soldiers under your command to be obedient to your orders as colonel. And 
you are to observe and follow such orders and directions, from time to time, 
as you shall receive from this or a future congress of the United Colonies, or 
committee of congress, for that purpose appointed, or commander in chief 
for the time being of the armv of the United Colonies, or any other superior 



180 SKETCHES OP THE 

offered to him, and immediately resigned that which 
he held from the state. His resignation produced a 
commotion in the camp, which wore at first an alarming 
aspect; and would probably have had an extremely un- 
propitious effect on the military efforts of the state, had 
it not been instantaneously quelled by his own patriotic 
exertions. The following is the notice of this transaction 
from Purdie's paper of March 1st, 1776: 

" Yesterday morning, the troops in this city being 
informed that Patrick Henry, esquire, commander in 
chief of the Virginia forces, was about to leave them, 
the whole went into deep mourning, and being under 
arms waited on him at his lodgings, when they addressed 
him in the following manner: 

" To Patrick Henry, jun. esquire. 

" Deeply impressed with a grateful sense of the obli- 
gations we lie under to you, for the polite, humane, and 
tender treatment manifested to us throughout the whole 
of your conduct, while we had the honour of being under 
your command, permit us to offer you our sincere 
thanks, as the only tribute we have in our power to 
pay to your real merits. Notwithstanding your with- 
drawing yourself from the service fills us with the most 
poignant sorrow, as it at once deprives us of our father 
and general; yet, as gentlemen, we are compelled to 
applaud your spirited resentment to the most glaring 
indignity. May your merit shine as conspicuous to the 

officer, according to the rules and discipline of war, in pursuance of the trust 
reposed in you. This commission to continue in force until revoked by this 
or a future congress. By order of the congress, 

" John Hancock, President." 
" Attest, 

" Chabi.es Thomson, Secretary.'' 

" Philadelphia, Feb. 13th, 1776." 



LIFE OF HENRY. 181 

world in general, as it hath done to us, and may Heaven 
shower its choicest blessings upon you!" 

" To which he returned the following answer: 
" Gentlemen, 

" I am exceedingly obliged to you for your appro- 
bation of my conduct. Your address does me the 
highest honour. This kind testimony of your regard to 
me would have been an ample reward for services 
much greater than those I Jiave had the 'power to per- 
form. I return you, and each of you, gentlemen, my 
best acknowledgments for the spirit, alacrity, and zeal, 
you have constantly shown in your several stations. I 
am unhappy to part with you. I leave the service, but 
I leave my heart with you. May God bless you, and give 
you success and safety, and make you the glorious 
instrument of saving our country." 

" After the officers had received colonel Henry's 
kind answer to their address, they insisted upon his 
dining with them at the Raleigh tavern, before his de- 
parture; and after dinner a number of them proposed 
escorting him out of town, but were prevented in their 
resolution by some uneasiness getting among the sol- 
diery, who assembled in a tumultuous manner, and 
demanded their discharge, declaring their unwillingness 
to serve under any other commander; upon which Col. 
Henry found it necessary to stay a night longer in 
town; which he spent in visiting the several barracks, 
and used every argument in his power with the soldiery, 
to lay aside their imprudent resolution, and to continue 
in the service, which he had quitted from motives in 
which his honour alone was concerned; and that, 
although he was prevented from serving his country in 
a military capacity, yet his utmost abilities should be 



182 SKETCHES OF THE 

exerted for the real interest of the united colonies, in 
support of the glorious cause in which they have 
engaged. This, accompanied with the extraordinary 
exertions of colonel Christian and other officers present, 
happily produced the desired effect, the soldiers reluct- 
antly acquiescing; and we have now the pleasure to 
assure the public, that those brave fellows are now pretty 
well reconciled, and will spend the last drop of their 
blood in their country's defence/' 

This is the man who has been sometimes branded as 
a turbulent, seditious, factious, demagogue! Had he 
been of this character, what an occasion was here to 
have provoked it to action! This love for the man and 
the officer, and this resentment of the indignities to 
which he had been subjected, was not confined to the 
camp at Williamsburg; they pervaded the whole army, 
and were felt and expressed by the following address, 
signed by upwards of ninety officers at Kemp's landing, 
and Suffolk, (in colonel Woodford's camp,) as well as at 
Williamsburg; and printed by their desire in Purdie's 
paper of the 22d March, 1775. 

"Sir, 

" Deeply concerned for the good of our country, we sin- 
cerely lament the unhappy necessity of your resignation, 
and with all the warmth of affection assure you, that, 
whatever may have given rise to the indignity lately offer- 
ed to you, ice join with the general voice of the people, and 
think it our duty to make this public declaration of our 
high respect for your distinguished merit. To your 
vigilance and judgment as a senator this united conti- 
nent bears ample testimony; while she prosecutes her 
steady opposition to those destructive ministerial mea- 
sures which your eloquence first pointed out and taught 



LIFE OF HENRY. 183 

to resent, and your resolution led forward to resist. To 
your extensive popularity the service also is greatly 
indebted, for the expedition with which the troops were 
raised; and, while they were continued under your 
command, the firmness, candour, and politeness, which 
formed the complexion of your conduct towards them, 
obtained the signal approbation of the wise and vir- 
tuous, and will leave upon our minds the most grateful 
impression. Although retired from the immediate con- 
cerns of war, we solicit the continuance of your kindly 
attention. We know your attachment to the best of 
causes; we have the fullest confidence in your abilities, 
and in the rectitude of your views; and however willing 
the envious may be to undermine an established reputa- 
tion, we trust the day will come, when justice shall 
prevail, and thereby secure you an honourable and 
happy return to the glorious employment of conducting 
our councils, and hazarding your life in the defence of 
your country. 

" With the most grateful sentiments of regard and 
esteem, we are, sir, very respectfully, your most obliged 
and obedient humble servants." 

If any doubt can be entertained as to the body to 
which this imputation of envy pointed, it will be re- 
moved by the following defence of the committee of 
safety, extracted from the supplement to Purdie's paper 
of the 15th of March, 1776. 

* Mr. Purdie, 

" I am informed a report is prevailing through the 
colony, that the committee of safety were the cause of 
colonel Henry's resigning the command of his bat- 
talion; which it is supposed hath received confirmation 



184 SKETCHES OF THE 

from the address of the officers to that gentleman, in 
which they speak of a glaring indignity having been 
offered him, if it was not wholly derived from that 
source. That the good people of the country may be 
truly informed in this matter, the following state of 
facts is submitted, without comment, to the impartial 
judgment of the public. 

M As soon as the last convention had voted the rais- 
ing seven new battalions of troops, besides augmenting 
the old ones, the committee of safety informed our 
delegates to congress of that vote, desiring they would 
use their best endeavours to have the whole supported 
at continental expense; in answer to which, a letter was 
received from the delegates, dated the 30th of Decem- 
ber, of which the following is an extract: c The resolu- 
tions of congress for taking our six additional (they 
would not agree to take our other two) battalions, into 
continental pay, and for permitting an exportation for 
supplying our countrymen with salt, are enclosed/ It 
was supposed from hence, an intention prevailed in 
congress to pass by the two old battalions, and take six 
of the new ones into continental pay; which, as it was 
said those officers would take precedency of provincial 
ones of equal rank, was generally thought wrong, since 
it would degrade the officers of the two first battalions; . 
and, to avoid this, the convention came to a resolution 
the 10th of January, of which the following is part: 
' Should the congress adhere to their resolution of tak- 
ing into continental pay no more than six battalions, let 
it be earnestly recommended to them to suffer our two 
present battalions (to be completed as before mentioned) 
to stand first in the arrangement; since, otherwise, the 
officers first appointed by this convention, most of whom 
have already gone through a laborious and painful 



LIFE OP HENRY. 185 

service, will be degraded in their ranks, and there is 
too much reason to apprehend that great confusion 
will ensue/ 

" The worthy gentleman (not a member of tlie com- 
mittee of safety) who proposed this resolution, informed 
the convention he had consulted some of the officers 
of the first regiment, who wished to have their rank 
preserved, though it was foreseen the pay would be 
reduced. 

" The committee of safety, in a letter to the dele- 
gates dated the 25th of January, enclosing this resolu- 
tion, thus write: c You have a list of the field officers as 
they stand recommended, and we doubt not receiving 
the commissions in the like order, with blanks for the 
proper number of captains and subalterns. If, how- 
ever, the resolution of congress should be unalterably 
fixed to allow us but six battalions, you will please to 
attend to that part of the resolve which recommends 
their being the first six, as a point of great consequence 
to our harmony, in which may be involved the good of 
the common cause/ The committee of safety after- 
wards received the commissions wholly filled up for 
the field officers of six battalions, in the rank they stood 
recommended by the convention, beginning with Col. 
Henry, and ending with Col. Buckner of the 6th bat- 
talion, with directions to deliver them. Colonel Henry 
was accordingly offered his commission, which he de- 
clined accepting, and retired without assigning any 
reasons. 

" As to the general officers, the convention left them 
entirely to the choice of the congress, without recom- 
mendation; nor did the committee of safety at all in- 
termeddle in that choice. 

" A Friend to Truth.'* 
a a 



186 SKETCHES OF ?HE 

Immediately following this defence of the committee, 
in the same paper, are the two following articles: 

" Mr. Purdie, 

" The address of the officers to Col. Henry, and the 
Col.'s reply, has led some of our enemies to hope that there 
would be great discontent in the army, by which our 
military operations would be retarded, and that there 
would be a considerable murmuring against the con- 
gress; but they are much mistaken. It is true the 
soldiers and officers were very unhappy at parting with 
so amiable a commander as colonel Henry; and might 
be a little imprudent in some expressions on the occa- 
sion; but there is not a man of them who is not so 
warmly attached to the glorious cause he is engaged in, 
as to serve with alacrity under any commander, rather 
than it should suffer. And colonel Henry himself is a 
gentleman of so much honour, and so true a patriot, 
that he will never countenance a murmur against the 
congress; nay so far from it, that it is highly probable 
he will soon be found in that august assembly, urging, 
with his powerful eloquence, the necessity of prosecut- 
ing the war with redoubled vigour. I am a sincere 
friend to the congress and to colonel Henry/' 

« Mr. Purdie, 

" Envy will merit, as its shade pursue : 

But, like the shadow, proves the substance true." 

Pope. 

"I was not surprised to see, in your last week's 
gazette, the resignation of Patrick Henry, esquire, 
late commander in chief of all the Virginia forces, and 
colonel of the first regiment. From that gentleman's 
amiable disposition, his invariable perseverance in the 



LIFE OF HENRY. 187 

cause of liberty, ive apprehend that envy strove to bury 
in obscurity his martial talents. Fettered and confined, 
ivith only an empty title, the mere echo of authority, his 
superior abilities lay inactive, noi y could be exerted for 
his honour, or his country's good. 

¥ Virginia may truly boast, that in him she finds the 
able statesman, the soldier's father, the best of citizens, 
and liberty's dear friend. Clad with innocence, as in a 
coat of mail, he is proof against every serpentile ivhisper. 
The officers and soldiers, who know him, are rivetted 
to his bosom; when he speaks, all is silence; when he 
orders, they cheerfully obey; and in the field, under 
so sensible, so prudent an officer, though hosts oppose 
them, with shouts they meet their armed foe, the sure 
presages of victory and success. 

" Let us, my countrymen, with grateful hearts, re- 
member that he carried off the standard of liberty, and 
defeated Grenville in his favourite stamp act. 

" While many dreaded, till with pleasing eye, 
Saw tyranny before brave Henry fly. 

" I am, Mr. Purdie, your friend, and a well-wisher 
to Virginia. 

" An Honest Farmer." 

It is very clear from the last piece, as well as from 
the address of the ninety officers, which has been 
already given, and which was published by their desire 
in a paper subsequent to that which contains the defence 
of the committee, that that defence had been by no 
means satisfactory; and that either the committee as a 
body, or what is more probable, some individual or in- 
dividuals of it were still believed to have had a secret 
hand in planning and directing the series of indignities 
which had driven Mr. Henry from a military life. It 



188 SKETCHES OP THE 

would seem that the truly respectable and venerable 
chairman of that committee came in at the time for 
his full proportion of this censure, and that he smarted 
severely under it: this I infer, from a letter of his to 
colonel Woodford some time afterwards, in answer to 
one by which that gentleman had consulted him as to 
the propriety of his resigning his commission. After 
having dissuaded him from this step by other topics, he 
proceeds thus: " I am apprehensive that your resig- 
nation will be handled to your disadvantage, from a 
certain quarter, where all reputations are sacrificed, for 
the sake of one; what does it signify, that he resigned 
without any such cause, or assigning any reason at all? 
it is not ivithout example, that others should be censured 
for what he is applauded for." This acrimony, so un- 
usual from a man of Mr. Pendleton's benevolence and 
courtesy, could have been wrung from him only by the 
bitterest provocations; and renders it highly probable, 
that the numerous and enthusiastic admirers of Mr. 
Henry had implicated this gentleman deeply in the 
indignities which had recently been offered to their 
favourite. 

The necessity of placing this incident of Mr. Henry's 
life in its true light, upon the evidence in my possession, 
has imposed upon me a very painful duty in regard 
to Mr. Pendleton. With the justice or injustice of 
the construction placed upon his conduct in relation 
to Mr. Henry, I have nothing to do. Even if just, the 
infirmity of human nature may be easily excused in 
feeling some uneasiness at the eclipsing brightness with 
which Mr. Henry had rushed, like a comet, to the head 
of affairs in Virginia. It demands, however, no un- 
common measure of charity to believe, that what was 
imputed to envy at the time, proceeded, so far as Mr. 



LIFE OF HENRY. 189 

Pendleton was concerned, from a single eye to the public 
good, and a sincere belief on his part, (an opinion in 
which he was by no means singular,) that Mr. Henry's 
inexperience in military affairs made it unsafe to 
commit to his management the infancy of our war. 
The people required to be animated by success in the 
onset; and it was therefore very natural in the com- 
mittee of safety, on whom the responsibility for the 
management of the war devolved, to select, for the first 
enterprises, the most experienced commander. Mr. 
Pendleton was too virtuous a man, and too faithful a 
patriot, to have yielded consciously to any other motive 
of action than the public good. His country has fixed 
its seal upon his exalted character, and the writer of 
these sketches is much more disposed to brighten than 
to efface the impression. 

The motives of Mr. Henry's resignation of his 
commission, which have been stated, are very easily 
and clearly deducible from the papers of the day, and 
were expressly avowed by him to his confidential friend 
and brother-in-law, Col. Meredith.* To other friends, 
however, he stated that he was the more reconciled 
to the necessity which had compelled him to resign, 
because he believed that he could perhaps serve the 
cause of his country more effectually in the public 
councils than in the field.f 

* These are colonel Meredith's words : — " P. H. in a communication to 
colonel M. stated his motives for resigning his commission as colonel. He 
conceived himself neglected, by younger officers having been put above 
him, and preferred to him ; particularly in the affair of the Great Bridge, 
where he wished to have commanded ; but colonel Woodford received that 
appointment. He disliked his being kept in and about Williamsburg, and 
not appointed to some important post or expedition. He was thus induced to 
think he was neglected by those who had the power of appointment. He 
therefore resigned." 

f Judge Tyler, and captain George Dabuey. 



190 SKETCHES OF THE 

Immediately upon his resignation he was elected a 
delegate to the convention for the county of Hanover. 
The session of that body, which was now coming on, 
was pregnant with importance. Dunmore had abdi- 
cated the chair of government, and the royal authority 
in the colony was seen and felt -no longer, but in acts 
of hostility. The king had declared from his throne, 
that the colonists must be reduced by force to submit 
to the British claim of taxation; and the colonists, on 
their part, had vowed that they never would submit to 
this prostration of their rights; but, on the contrary, that 
they would hand down to their children the birthright 
of liberty which they had enjoyed, or perish in the 
attempt. On this quarrel arms had been taken up on 
both sides, and the appeal had been made to the 
God of battles. The war had assumed a regular and 
settled form; blood had been profusely shed in various 
parts of the continent, and reconciliation had become 
hopeless. 

The people being thus abandoned by their king, put 
out of his protection, declared in a state of open rebel- 
lion, and treated as enemies, the social compact which 
had united the monarch with his subjects was at an 
end; the colonial constitution, which could be set and 
kept in motion only by the presence and agency of the 
king or his representative, was of course dissolved; and 
all the rights and powers of government reverted, of 
necessity, to their source, the people. These causes 
produced the convention. It was the organ by which 
the people chose to exercise the fundamental rights 
thus thrown back upon them, by the dissolution of the 
regal government. It was the substitute for the whole 
government which had been withdrawn— legislative, 
executive, and judiciary. It represented the whole 



LIFE OF HENRY. 191 

political power of the people; and had been expressly 
elected to take care of tlie republic. The means of 
accomplishing this object were left to themselves, without 
limitation or restriction- on the part of the people. 
Hitherto, while any hope of a restoration of the original 
government on just terms could be entertained, the 
convention had been satisfied with temporary expedients*, 
the first convention, however, had exercised the power 
of the people in their highest capacity, by adopting a 
species of constitution, and organizing a government 
under it; thus they erected an executive, under the 
name of a committee of safety, which the people re- 
cognised as flowing directly from themselves. Before 
the meeting of the convention of 1776, however, it was 
seen and well understood on every hand, that the con- 
test could not be maintained by the people, without the 
aid of regular government; and that the political malady 
of which they complained, could be extirpated in no 
other way than by applying the knife to the root. The 
newspapers of the preceding year contain frequent 
suggestions of this kind; the impression had now 
become universal; and the papers present specimens of 
explicit instructions from the people to their delegates 
to this effect.* Thus instructed in the sentiments of 



* The following are the instructions from the freeholders of James city 
to their delegates : — 

" To Robert C. Nicholas and William Norvell, esquires. 

" Gentlemen, 

" In vain do we congratulate ourselves on the impotency of the minister 
to divide us, if our union amounts to nothing more than an union in one 
common lethargy. War hath been brought into our houses, heightened by 
terrors and cruelties which the justest cause wants even palliatives for ; but 
faint advances towards peace, insidiously urged, have caught the ear of the 
credulous, and groundless hopes of accommodation deluded the timid, so that 
the free military system remains untouched in most essential points. As if 



192 SKETCHES OF THE 

their constituents, and representing the people in their 
highest sovereign capacity, the convention met on the 
6th of May, 1776, in the old capitol in the city of 
Williamsburg. Mr. Pendleton having been elected 
president, after having thanked the house for the honour 
done him, addressed them with great solemnity, in the 
following terms: — " We are now met in general con- 
vention, according to the ordinance for our election, 
at a time truly critical, when subjects of the most 
important and interesting nature require our serious 
attention. 

" The administration of justice, and almost all the 
powers of government, have now been suspended for 
near two years. It will become us to reflect whether 



our inexperience, poverty in warlike stores, and the infancy of our navy, 
were of trifling moment, we have ventured to neglect resources in such 
difficulties, which Heaven hath placed within our attainment. 

" Affiances may be formed at an easy price, capable of supplying these 
disadvantages, but an independent state disdains to humble herself to an 
equality in treaty with another, who cannot call her politics her own; or, to 
be explicit, she cannot enter into a negotiation with those who denominate 
themselves rebels, by resistance, and confession of a dependency. 

" Reasons, drawn from justice, policy and necessity, are every where at hand 
for a radical separation from Great Britain. From justice; for the blood of those 
~vho have fallen in our cause cries aloud, 'It is time to part.' From necessity; 
because she hath, of herself, repudiated us, by a rapid succession of insult, 
injury, robbery, murder, and a formal declaration of -war. These are but few, 
and some of the weakest arguments, which the great volume of our oppres- 
sion opens to every spirited American. 

" It cannot be a violation of our faith now to reject the terms of 1763. 
They are a qualified slavery at best, and were acceptable to us, not as the 
extent of our right, but the probable cause of peace ; but since the day in 
which they were most humbly offered, as the end of animosities, an interval 
hath passed, marked with tyranny intolerable. 

" We, therefore, whose names are hereunto subscribed, do request and 
instruct you, our delegates (provided no just and honourable terms are 
offered by the king) to exert your utmost ability, in the next convention, 
towards dissolving the connexion bet-ween America and Great Britain, totally, 

FINALLY, AND IB.KEVOCABLT." 



LIFE OP HENRY. 193 

we can longer sustain the great struggle we are 
making, in this situation." Having then directed their 
attention to certain specific subjects which required 
attention, he concluded his short, but impressive address, 
by exhorting the members to calmness, unanimity, and 
diligence. 

On the fifteenth of May, Mr. Cary reported from the 
committee of the whole house on the state of the co- 
lony, the following preamble and resolutions, which 
were unanimously adopted: 

rt Forasmuch as all the endeavours of the United Colo- 
nies, by the most decent representations and petitions to 
the king and parliament of Great Britain, to restore 
peace and security to America under the British govern- 
ment, and a re-union with that people upon just and 
liberal terms, instead of a redress of grievances, have 
produced, from an imperious and vindictive administra- 
tion, increased insult, oppression, and a vigorous attempt 
to effect our total destruction. By a late act, all these 
colonies are declared to be in rebellion, and out of the 
protection of the British crown; our properties sub- 
jected to confiscation; our people, when captivated, 
compelled to join in the murder and plunder of their 
relations and countrymen; and all former rapine and 
oppression of Americans declared legal and just. 
Fleets and armies are raised, and the aid of foreign 
troops engaged to assist these destructive purposes. 
The king's representative in this colony hath not only 
withheld all the powers of government from operating 
for our safety, but, having retired on board an armed 
ship, is carrying on a piratical and savage war against 
us, tempting our slaves, by every artifice, to resort to 
him, and training and employing them against their 

Bb 



194 SKETCHES OF THE 

masters. In this state of extreme danger, we have no 
alternative left, but an abject submission to the will of 
those overbearing tyrants, or a total separation from the 
crown and government of Great Britain: uniting and 
exerting the strength of all America for defence, and 
forming alliances with foreign powers for commerce and 
aid in war. Wherefore, appealing to the Searcher of 
hearts for the sincerity of former declarations, express- 
ing our desire to preserve the connexion with that 
nation, and that we are driven from that inclination by 
their wicked councils, and the eternal laws of self- 
preservation, 

"Resolved, unanimously, That the delegates ap- 
pointed to represent this colony in general congress, be 
instructed to propose to that respectable body, to 

DECLARE THE UNITED COLONIES FREE AND INDEPENDENT 

states, absolved from all allegiance to, or dependence 
upon, the crown or parliament of Great Britain; and 
that they give the assent of this colony to such declara- 
tion, and to whatever measures may be thought proper 
and necessary by the congress for forming foreign alli- 
ances, and A CONFEDERATION OF THE COLONIES, at SUch 

time, and in the manner, as to them shall seem best. 
Provided, that the power of forming government for, and 
the regulations of, the internal concerns of each colony, 
be left to the respective colonial legislatures. 

" Resolved, unanimously, That a committee be ap- 
pointed to prepare a declaration of rights, and such 
a plan of government as will be most likely to maintain 
peace and order in this colony, and secure substantial 
and equal liberty to the people." 

This measure was followed by the most lively demon- 
strations of joy. The spirit of the times is interestingly 



LIFE OF HENRY. 195 

manifested by the following paragraph from Purdie's 
paper of the 1 7th of May, which immediately succeeds 
the annunciation of the resolutions. 

" In consequence of the above resolutions, univer- 
sally regarded as the only door which will lead to safety 
and prosperity, some gentlemen made a handsome col- 
lection for the purpose of treating the soldiery, who 
next day were paraded in Waller's grove, before briga- 
dier-general Lewis, attended by the gentlemen of the 
committee of safety, the members of the general con- 
vention, the inhabitants of this city, &c. &c. The 
resolutions being read aloud to the army, the following 
toasts were given, each of them accompanied by a dis- 
charge of the artillery and small arms, and the acclama- 
tions of all present: — 

" 1. The American Independent States, 

" 2. The grand Congress of the United States, and 
their respective legislatures. 

" 3. General Washington, and victory to the Ameri- 
can arms. 

" The Union Flag of the American states waved upon 
the capitol during the whole of this ceremony; which 
being ended, the soldiers partook of the refreshments 
prepared for them by the affection of their countrymen, 
and the evening concluded with illuminations, and other 
demonstrations of joy; every one seeming pleased that 
the domination of Great Britain was now at an end, so 
wickedly and tyrannically exercised for these twelve or 
thirteen years past, notwithstanding our repeated prayers 
and remonstrances for redress." 

The committee appointed to prepare the declaration 
and plan of government, called for by the last resolution, 
were the following: Mr. Archibald Cary, Mr. Meriwe- 



196 SKETCHES OF THE 

ther Smith, Mr. Mercer, Mr. Henry Lee, Mr. Trea- 
surer, Mr. Henry, Mr. Dandridge, Mr. Gilmer,. Mr. 
Bland, Mr. Digges, Mr. Carrington, Mr. Thomas Lud- 
well Lee, Mr. Cabell, Mr. Jones, Mr. Blair, Mr. Flem- 
ing, Mr. Tazewell, Mr. Richard Cary, Mr. Bullitt, Mr. 
Watts, Mr. Banister, Mr. Page, Mr. Starke, Mr. David 
Mason, Mr. Adams, Mr. Read, and Mr. Thomas Lewis; 
to whom were afterwards successively added, Mr. Madi- 
son, Mr. Rutherford, Mr. Watkins, Mr. George Mason, 
Mr. Harvie, Mr. Curie, and Mr. Holt. 

On Wednesday, the 12th of June following, that 
declaration of rights which stands prefixed to our 
statutes, was reported and adopted without a dissenting 
voice; as was also, on Saturday the 29th of the same 
month, the present plan of our government.* 

The salary of the governor to be appointed under the 
new constitution was immediately fixed by a resolution 
of the house at one thousand pounds per annum ; and 

* The striking similitude between the recital of wrongs prefixed to the 
constitution of Virginia, and that which was afterwards prefixed to the de- 
claration of independence of the United States, is of itself sufficient to esta- 
blish the fact that they are from the same pen. But the constitution of Vir- 
ginia preceded the declaration of independence, by nearly a month ; and 
was wholly composed and adopted while Mr. Jefferson is known to have 
been out of the state, attending the session of congress at Philadelphia. 
From these facts alone, a doubt might naturally arise whether he was, as 
he has always been reputed, the author of that celebrated instrument, the 
Declaration of American Independence, or at least the recital of grievances 
which ushers it in ; or whether this part of it, at least, had not been borrow- 
ed from the preamble to the constitution of Virginia. To remove this doubt, 
it is proper to state, that there now exists among the archives of this state, 
an original rough draught of a constitution for Virginia, in the hand-writing 
of Mr. Jefferson, containing this identical preamble, and which was for- 
warded by him from Philadelphia, to his friend Mr. Wythe, to be submitted 
to the committee of the house of delegates. The body of the constitution is 
taken principally from a plan proposed by Mr. George Mason ; and had been 
adopted by the committee before the arrival of Mr. Jefferson's plan : his 
preamble, however, was prefixed to the instrument ; and some of the modi- 
fications proposed by him introduced into the body of it. 



LIFE OP HENRY. 197 

the house proceeded to elect forthwith the first repub- 
lican governor for the commonwealth of Virginia. This 
was the touchstone of public favour. The office was 
of the first importance; and the whole state was open 
to the choice of the house. The question was decided 
on the first ballot. The votes stood thus: 

For Patrick Henry, jun. esq. ... 60 

Thomas Nelson, esq 45 

John Page, esq 1 

Whereupon it was " Resolved, that the said Patrick 
Henry, jun. esq. be governor of this commonwealth, to 
continue in that office until the end of the succeeding 
session of assembly after the last of March next; and 
that Mr. Mason, Mr. Henry Lee, Mr. Digges, Mr. 
Blair, and Mr. Dandridge, be a committee to wait upon 
him, and notify such appointment." 

On Monday, the 1st of July, Mr. George Mason, of 
this committee, reported, that they had performed the 
duty assigned them, and that the governor had been 
pleased to return the following answer to the conven- 
tion: 

" To the honourable the president and house of 
convention. 

u Gentlemen, 

" The vote of this day, appointing me governor of 
the commonwealth, has been notified to me in the most 
polite and obliging manner, by George Mason, Henry 
Lee, Dudley Digges, John Blair, and Bartholomew 
Dandridge, esquires. 



198 SKETCHES OF THE 

" A sense of the high and unmerited honour confer- 
red upon me by the convention, fills my heart with 
gratitude, which I trust my whole life will manifest. I 
take this earliest opportunity to express my thanks, 
which I wish to convey to you, gentlemen, in the 
strongest terms of acknowledgment. 

" When I reflect that the tyranny of the British king 
and parliament hath kindled a formidable war, now 
raging throughout this wide extended continent, and in 
the operations of which this commonwealth must bear 
so great a part; and that, from the events of this war, 
the lasting happiness or misery of a great proportion of 
the human species will finally result; that, in order to 
preserve this commonwealth from anarchy, and its 
attendant ruin, and to give vigour to our councils, and 
effect to all our measures, government hath been neces- 
sarily assumed, and new modelled; that it is exposed to 
numberless hazards, and perils, in its infantine state; 
that it can never attain to maturity, or ripen into firm- 
ness, unless it is guarded by an affectionate assiduity, 
and managed by great abilities; I lament my want of 
talents; I feel my mind filled with anxiety and uneasi- 
ness, to find myself so unequal to the duties of that 
important station, to which I am called by the favour 
of my fellow-citizens, at this truly critical conjuncture. 
The errors of my conduct shall be atoned for, so far 
as I am able, by unwearied endeavours to secure the 
freedom and happiness of our common country. 

" I shall enter upon the duties of my office, when- 
ever you, gentlemen, shall be pleased to direct; relying 
upon the known wisdom and virtue of your honourable 
house to supply my defects, and to give permanency and 
success to that system of government which you have 



LIFE OF HENRY. 199 

formed, and which is so wisely calculated to secure 
equal liberty, and advance human happiness. I have 
the honour to be, gentlemen, your most obedient and 
very humble servant, 

" P. Henry, jun." 

Mr. Henry was also immediately greeted with the 
following affectionate address, from the two regiments 
which he had recently commanded: 

" To his excellency Patrick Henry, jun. esq. governor 
of the commonwealth of Virginia: — The humble 
address of the first and second Virginia regiments: 

" May it please your excellency, 

M Permit us, with the sincerest sentiments of respect 
and joy, to congratulate your excellency upon your 
unsolicited promotion to the highest honours a grateful 
people can bestow. 

" Uninfluenced by private ambition, regardless of 
sordid interest, you have uniformly pursued the general 
good of your country; and have taught the world, that 
an ingenuous love of the rights of mankind, an inflexible 
resolution, and a steady perseverance in the practice 
of every private and public virtue, lead directly to pre- 
ferment, and give the best title to the honours of our 
uncorrupted and vigorous state. 

" Once happy under your military command, we 
hope for more extensive blessings from your civil admi- 
nistration. 

" Intrusted as your excellency is, in some measure, 
with the support of a young empire, our hearts are 
willing, and arms ready, to maintain your authority as 
chief magistrate; happy that we have lived to see the 



-- 



200 SKETCHES OF THE 

day, when freedom and equal rights, established by the 
voice of the people, shall prevail through the land. We 
are, may it please your excellency, your excellency's 
most devoted and most obedient servants." 

To which he returned the following exquisite an- 
swer: — 

" Gentlemen of the first and second Virginia regi- 
ments, 

" Your address does me the highest honour. Be 
pleased to accept my most cordial thanks for your 
favourable and kind sentiments of my principles and 
conduct. 

" The high appointment to which my fellow-citizens 
have called me, was, indeed, unsolicited, unmerited. 
I am, therefore, under increased obligations to promote 
the safety, dignity, and happiness of the common- 
wealth. 

" While the civil powers are employed in establish- 
ing a system of government, liberal, equitable, in every 
part of which the genius of equal liberty breathes her 
blessed influence, to you is assigned the glorious task 
of saving, by your valour, all that is dear to mankind. 
Go on, gentlemen, to finish the great work you have so 
nobly and successfully begun. Convince the tyrants 
again, that they shall bleed, that America will bleed 
to her last drop, ere their wicked schemes find suc- 
cess. 

" The remembrance of my former connexion with 
you shall be ever dear to me. I honour your profes- 
sion. I revere that patriot virtue, which, in your con- 
duct, hath produced cheerful obedience, exemplary 
courage, and contempt of hardship and danger. Be 



LIFE OP HENRY. 201 

assured, gentlemen, I shall feel the highest pleasure, 
in embracing every opportunity to contribute to your 
happiness and welfare; and I trust the day will come, 
when I shall make one of those that will hail you 
among the triumphant deliverers of America. I have the 
honour to be, gentlemen, your most obedient and very 
humble servant, 

" P Henry, jun."* 

The first council appointed under the constitution 
were, John Page, Dudley Digges, John Tayloe, John 
Blair, Benjamin Harrison of Berkeley, Bartholomew 
Dandridge, Thomas Nelson, and Charles Carter of 
Shirley, esquires. Mr. Nelson (the same gentleman 
who had received so honourable a vote as governor) 
declined the acceptance of the office, on account of 
his age and infirmities; and his place was supplied by 
Mr. Benjamin Harrison of Brandon. 

The governor's palace, together with the out-build- 
ings belonging to it in Williamsburg, having, by a 
previous resolution, been appropriated as a public hos- 
pital, was, by a resolution of the first of July, restored 
to its original destination; and the committee who had 
been appointed to notify the governor of his election, 
were now directed to inform him of the desire of the 
convention, that he would make the palace his place 
of residence. On the fifth of July the sum of one 
thousand pounds was directed by the house, to be laid 

* When it is said that Mr. Henry was not successful as a writer, the remark 
must be understood as applicable only to those extended compositions, in 
which it was necessary to digest and arrange a mass of arguments with skill 
and effect, and to give them beauty as well as order. In his short effusions, 
when excited by strong feelings, he was sometimes very happy ; of which 
the above answer is a very pleasing specimen. 

C C 



202 SKETCHES OF THE 

out in furniture for the palace, including the furniture 
already there belonging to the country; and, on the 
same day, the governor and members of the privy 
council took their respective oaths of office, and enter- 
ed at once upon the discharge of their constitutional 
duties. 



LIFE OF HENRY. 203 



SECTION VII. 

Shortly after Mr. Henry^s election as governor, lord 
Dunmore was driven from Gwinn's island and from the 
state, to return to it no more; and Virginia was left in 
repose from every external enemy. No opportunity, 
therefore, was afforded to the governor to distinguish 
himself in the exercise of that important constitutional 
power, which created him the commander in chief of 
the forces of the state. Duties, however, of more 
importance than lustre, remained for the executive of 
the state — in keeping up the ardour of the common- 
wealth in the public cause — in furnishing and forward- 
ing their quota of military supplies to the grand conti- 
nental army — in awakening the spirit of the state to the 
importance of discipline, and preparing the militia for the 
effectual discharge of their routine of duty — in watching 
and crushing the intrigues of the tories who still infested 
the state, and went about clandestinely, preaching disaf- 
fection to the patriot cause, and submission to Great 
Britain — in counteracting the schemes of speculating 
monopolists and extortioners, who sought to avail them- 
selves of the necessities of the times, and to grow rich 
by preying on the misfortunes of the people — in short, 
in eradicating and removing those numerous moral 
diseases, which spring up with so much fecundity, and 
flourish so luxuriantly, amid the calamities of a revolu- 
tion — and in keeping the body politic pure and healthy 
in all its parts. The numerous and well directed pro- 
clamations with which the papers of the day abound, 
attest the vigilance and energy with which these duties 



204 SKETCHES OF THE 

were performed. To enter upon a detail of them, 
would be to write the history of Virginia during this 
period, instead of the life of Mr. Henry; a work wholly 
unnecessary, since it has been already executed with 
minuteness and fidelity by an elegant writer,* whose 
work will probably see the light before these sketches. 
I shall confine myself to a few prominent incidents of 
Mr. Henry's administration, on account of some of which 
a degree of censure has been, unjustly J, think, attached 
to his character. 

The fall of the year 1776 was one of the darkest and 
most dispiriting periods of the revolution. The disas- 
ter at Long Island had occurred, by which a consi- 
derable portion of the American army had been cut off 
— a garrison of between three and four thousand men 
had been taken at Fort Washington — and the American 
general, with the small remainder, disheartened and in 
want of every kind of comfort, was retreating through 
the Jersies before an overwhelming power, which 
spread terror, desolation, and death, on every hand. 
This was the period of which Payne in his crisis used 
that memorable expression — " these are the times which 
try the souls of men!" For a short time the courage of 
the country fell. Washington alone remained erect, 
and surveyed with godlike composure the storm that 
raged around him. Even the heroism of the Virginia 
legislature gave way; and, in a season of despair, the 
mad project of a dictator was seriously meditated. That 
Mr. Hemy was thought of for this office, has been 
alleged, and is highly probable; but that the project 
was suggested by him or even received his countenance, 
I have met with no one who will venture to affirm. 

• Mr. L. H, Girardin, the continuator of Bark's History of Virginia. 



LIFE OF HENRY. 205 

There is a tradition that Col. Archibald Cary, the 
speaker of the senate, was principally instrumental in 
crushing this project; that meeting Col. Syme, the step- 
brother of Col. Henry, in the lobby of the house, he 
accosted him very fiercely in terms like these: — " I am 
told that your brother wishes to be dictator: tell him, 
from me, that the day of his appointment shall be the 
day of his death — for he shall feel my dagger in his 
heart before the- sunset of that day:" and the tradition 
adds, that Col. Syme, in great agitation, declared, " that 
if such a project existed, his brother had no hand in 
it, for that nothing could be more foreign to him, than 
to countenance any office which could endanger, in the 
most distant manner, the liberties of his country." The 
intrepidity and violence of Col. Cary's character renders 
the tradition probable; but it furnishes no proof of Mr. 
Henry's implication in the scheme. It is most certain, 
that both himself and his friends have firmly and uni- 
formly persisted in asserting his innocence; and there 
seems to be neither candour nor justice in imputing to 
him, without evidence, a scheme which might just as 
well have originated in the assembly itself. It was not 
more than a month afterwards, that congress actually 
did, with relation to general Washington, very nearly 
what the Virginia legislature are said to have contem- 
plated in regard to Mr. Henry; they invested him with 
powers very little short of dictatorial: yet no one ever 
suspected general Washington of having prompted the 
measure. Why then shall Mr. Henry be suspected? 
Neither general Washington himself, nor any other 
patriot, had maintained the principles of the revolution 
with more consistency and uniformity than Patrick 
Henry; and it will certainly never satisfy a fair enquirer. 



206 SKETCHES OF THE 

to attempt to balance a suspicion, without the shadow of 
proof, against the whole course of a long and patriotic 
life. The charge, moreover, seems preposterous. What 
advantage could a rational man promise himself from 
the dictatorship of a single state, embarked with twelve 
other sovereign and independent states, in one common 
cause; a cause, too, now so well understood by the whole 
body of the American people, and in which all their 
souls were so intensely engaged? The man who was 
at the head of the armies of the union, might have 
played the part of Caesar or Cromwell, had he pos- 
sessed their wicked spirit; but what could the dictator 
of a single state do, and that, too, a state of firm and 
enlightened patriots? 

It is impossible to believe that the legislature them- 
selves could have entertained a doubt of Mr. Henry's 
innocence; since at the next annual election for gover- 
nor, which took place on the 30th of May, 1777, he 
was re-elected unanimously; the house being composed 
of nearly the same members, and the same colonel Cary 
being speaker of the senate. This honourable proof of 
confidence, by those who best knew the whole case — 
who watched, with a scrutiny so severely jealous, the 
conduct of our prominent men — and among whom were 
some who derived no pleasure from the public honours 
of Mr. Henry — will be decisive of this question, with 
every man who is dispassionately searching for the 
truth, and is willing to find it. 

This very honourable mark of the confidence of the 
legislature, in re-electing him unanimously to the office 
of governor, affected Mr. Henry most sensibly; and to 
the committee who announced it to him, he gave the 
following answer: 



LIFE OF HENRY. 207 

" Gentlemen, 

" The signal honour conferred on me by the 
general assembly in their choice of me to be the governor 
of this commonwealth, demands my best acknowledg- 
ments, which I beg the favour of you to convey to them 
in the most acceptable manner. 

" I shall execute the duties of that high station, to 
which I am again called by the favour of my fellow- 
citizens, according to the best of my abilities, and I shall 
rely upon the candour and wisdom of the assembly, to 
excuse and supply my defects. The good of the com- 
monwealth shall be the only object of my pursuit, and 
I shall measure my happiness according to the success 
which shall attend my endeavours to establish the public 
liberty. I beg to be presented to the assembly; and that 
they and you will be assured, that I am, with every 
sentiment of the highest regard, their and your most 
obedient and very humble servant, 

" P. Henry." 

It was in the course of this year's administration of 
the government by Mr. Henry, that that memorable 
plot which disgraces our history, was formed to sup- 
plant general Washington. This is said to have pro- 
ceeded from the glory which general Gates had gained 
by the capture of Burgoyne and his army at Saratoga, 
and was believed to have been suggested by general 
Gates himself. The plot is said to have been an ex- 
tensive one, and to have embraced some of the members 
of congress, and many officers of the army. The 
high estimate which Mr. Henry had formed of the 
abilities of general Washington, while that illustrious 
man was comparatively unknown to his countrymen. 



20$ SKETCHES OF THE 

has been already stated. This estimate, instead of 
having been lowered, had been confirmed and raised 
by subsequent events. Mr. Henry was too cool and 
judicious an observer of events, to have imputed to the 
commander in chief the disasters of the autumn of 1 776. 
His masterly retreat through the Jersies, the brilliant 
strokes of generalship exhibited at Trenton and Prince- 
ton, and above all, that singular constancy of soul with 
which he braved adversity, had excited his grateful 
admiration, and established Washington in his heart as 
one of the first of human beings. He not only admired 
him as a general, but revered him as a patriot, and loved 
him as a friend. Feeling for general Washington 
sentiments like these, the reader may judge of the 
indignation and horror with which he read the following 
anonymous letter, addressed to him by one of the 
conspirators against that father of his country. 

« Yorktown, January 12th, 1778. 

" Dear sir, 

" The common danger of our country first brought 
you and me together. I recollect with pleasure the 
influence of your conversation and eloquence upon the 
opinions of this country, in the beginning of the 
present controversy. You first taught us to shake off 
our idolatrous attachment to royalty, and to oppose its 
encroachments upon our liberties, with our very lives. 
By these means you saved us from ruin. The inde- 
pendence of America is the offspring of that liberal 
spirit of thinking and acting, which followed the 
destruction of the spectres of kings, and the mighty 
power of Great Britain. 

"But, sir, we have only passed the Red Sea. A 
dreaiy wilderness is still before us, and unless a Moses 



LIFE OF HENRY. 209 

or a Joshua are raised up in our behalf, we must perish 
before we reach the promised land. We have nothing 
to fear from our enemies on the way. General Howe, 
it is true, has taken Philadelphia; but he has only 
changed his prison. His dominions are bounded on 
all sides, by his out-sentries. America can only be 
undone by herself. She looks up to her councils and 
arms for protection; but alas! what are they? Her 
representation in congress dwindled to only twenty-one 
members — her Adams — her Wilson — her Henry, are 
no more among them. Her councils weak — and par- 
tial remedies applied constantly for universal diseases. 
Her army — what is it? a major-general belonging to it, 
called it a few days ago, in my hearing, a mob. Dis- 
cipline unknown or wholly neglected. The quarter- 
master and commissary's departments, filled with idle- 
ness, ignorance, and peculation — our hospitals crowded 
with six thousand sick, but half provided with necessa- 
ries or accommodations, and more dying in them in one 
month, than perished in the field during the whole of 
the last campaign. The money depreciating, without 
any effectual measures being taken to raise it — the 
country distracted with the Don Quixote attempts to 
regulate the price of provisions — an artificial famine 
created by it, and a real one dreaded from it — the 
spirit of the people failing through a more intimate 
acquaintance with the causes of our misfortunes — many 
submitting daily to general Howe — and more wishing to 
do it, only to avoid the calamities which threaten our 
country. But is our case desperate? by no means. We 
have wisdom, virtue, and strength eno' to save us, if 
they could be called into action. The northern army 
has shown us what Americans are capable of doing, 
with a general at their bead. The spirit of the southern 

Dd 



210 SKETCHES OF THE 

army is no way inferior to the spirit of the northern. A 
Gates, a Lee, or a Conway, would in a few weeks 
render them an irresistible body of men. The last of 
the above officers has accepted of the new office of 
inspector-general of our army, in order to reform 
abuses; but the remedy is only a palliative one. In one 
of his letters to a friend he says, c a great and good 
God hath decreed America to be free — or the 
*********** an( | yygak counsellors, would have ruined 
her long ago/ You may rest assured of each of the 
facts related in this letter. The author of it is one of 
your Philadelphia friends. A hint of his name, if found 
out by the hand-writing, must not be mentioned to your 
most intimate friend. Even the letter must be thrown 
in the fire. But some of its contents ought to be made 
public, in order to awaken, enlighten, and alarm our 
country. I rely upon your prudence, and am, dear sir, 
with my usual attachment to you, and to our beloved 
independence, yours sincerely." 
" His excellency P. Henry." 

Mr. Henry did not hesitate a moment as to the course 
which it was proper for him to take with this perfidious 
letter: he enclosed it forthwith to general Washington, 
in the following frank and high-minded communica- 
tion : 

" Williamsburg, February 20, 1778. 

" Dear sir, 

" You will, no doubt, be surprised at seeing the 
enclosed letter, in which the encomiums bestowed on 
me are as undeserved, as the censures aimed at you 
are unjust. I am sorry there should be one man who 
counts himself my friend, who is not yours. 



LIFE OF HENRY. 211 

"Perhaps I give you needless trouble in handing you 
this paper. The writer of it may be too insignificant 
to deserve any notice. If I knew this to be the case, I 
should not have intruded on your time, which is so 
precious. But there may possibly be some scheme or 
party forming to your prejudice. The enclosed leads 
to such a suspicion. Believe me, sir, I have too high 
a sense of the obligations America has to you, to abet 
or countenance so unworthy a proceeding. \The most 
exalted merit hath ever been found to attract envy. 
But I please myself with the hope, that the same forti- 
tude and greatness of mind which have hitherto braved 
all the difficulties and dangers inseparable from your 
station, will rise superior to every attempt of the envious 
partisan. 

" I really cannot tell who is the writer of this letter, 
which not a little perplexes me. The hand-writing is 
altogether strange to me. 

" To give you the trouble of this gives me pain. It 
would suit my inclination better to give you some 
assistance in the great business of the war. But I will 
not conceal any thing from you, by which you may be 
affected; for I really think, your personal welfare and 
the happiness of America are intimately connected. I 
beg you will be assured of that high regard and esteem, 
with which I ever am, dear sir, your affectionate friend 
and very humble servant, 

" P. Henry/' 

" His excellency general Washington." 

Not having received any answer to this letter, and 
being filled with solicitude by the wicked conspiracy, he 
again wrote to general Washington, as follows: 



212 SKETCHES OF THE 

" Williamsburg', March 5th, 1778. 

" Dear sir, 

" By an express which colonel Finnie sent to camp, 
I enclosed you an anonymous letter, which I hope got 
safe to hand. I am anxious to hear something that 
will serve to explain the strange affair, which I am now 
informed is taken up respecting you. Mr. Custis has 
just paid us a visit, and by him I learn sundry particu- 
lars concerning general Mifflin, that much surprised 
me. It is very hard to trace the schemes and wind- 
ings of the enemies to America. I really thought that 
man its friend: however, I am too far from him to judge 
of his present temper. 

" While you face the armed enemies of our liberty in 
the field, and by the favour of God, have been kept 
unhurt, I trust your country will never harbour in her 
bosom, the miscreant who would ruin her best sup- 
porter. I wish not to flatter; but when arts unworthy 
honest men are used to defame and traduce you, I 
think it not amiss, but a duty, to assure you of that esti- 
mation in which the public hold you. Not that I think 
any testimony I can bear is necessary for your support, 
or private satisfaction; for a bare recollection of what is 
past must give you sufficient pleasure in every circum- 
stance of life. But I cannot help assuring you, on this 
occasion, of the high sense of gratitude which all ranks 
of men, in this your native country, bear to you. It will 
give me sincere pleasure to manifest my regards, and 
render my best services to you or yours. I do not like 
to make a parade of these things, and I know you are 
not fond of it: however, I hope the occasion will plead 
my excuse. 

" The assembly have, at length, empowered the exe- 



LIFE OP HENRY. 213 

cutive here, to provide the Virginia troops serving with 
you with clothes, &c. I am making provision accord- 
ingly, and hope to do something towards it. Every 
possible assistance from government is afforded the 
commissary of provisions, whose department has not 
been attended to. It was taken up by me too late to do 
much. Indeed the load of business devolved on me is 
too great to be managed well. A French ship mount- 
ing thirty guns, that has been long chased by the 
English cruisers, has got into Carolina, as I hear last 
night. 

" Wishing you all possible felicity, I am, my dear 
sir, your ever affectionate friend, and very humble 
servant, 

" P. Henry/' 

" His excellency general Washington." 

In reply Mr. Henry received, shortly afterwards, the 
two following very cordial letters from the general: 

« Valley Forge, March 27th, 1778. 

" Dear sir, 

" About eight days past, I was honoured with your 
favour of the 20th ultimo. Your friendship, sir, in 
transmitting me the anonymous letter you had received, 
lays me under the most grateful obligations; and, if 
any thing could give a still further claim to my acknow- 
ledgments, it is the very poltte and delicate terms in 
which you have been pleased to make the communica- 
tion. 

" I have ever been happy in supposing that I held a 
place in your esteem, and the proof of it you have 



214 SKETCHES OF THE 

afforded on this occasion makes me peculiarly so. The 
favourable light in which you hold me is truly flatter- 
ing; but I should feel much regret, if I thought the 
happiness of America so intimately connected with my 
personal welfare, as you so obligingly seem to consider 
it. All I can say is, that she has ever had, and I trust 
she ever will have my honest exertions to promote her 
interest. I cannot hope that my services have been the 
best, but my heart tells me they have been the best that 
I could render. 

" That I may have erred in using the means in my 
power for accomplishing the objects of the arduous, ex- 
alted station with which I am honoured, I cannot doubt; 
nor do I wish my conduct to be exempted from the 
reprehension it may deserve. Error is the portion of 
humanity, and to censure it, whether committed by this 
or that public character, is the prerogative of freemen. 

*i. j;. jl jl j;> x .'j. jj. ^- -v. .':■ -i'- -•!- JJ- -'.'- -v- -v- <p -v- z*z Ai- -*? -V; ^ ^fc -V; ■*: 

*•&!* -U- -V- -it. -U- •¥* -y- -V- Ai- -U- -V- -'.'- -If- >U* »U- «lf- -It- *U> </- -U- -it- ^i? -»■- "afe -3t "JE; -V- 

*.Y- -U- -V- -V- -V- -U' -V- -V* -V- -¥.' -TK- -y- -^- -K - -V- -^- -* - -'*- - 'i - -V- -*■ -'J- -V- -'*• -V- •£' 

" This is not the only secret, insidious attempt that 
has been made to wound my reputation. There have 
been others equally base, cruel, and ungenerous; be- 
cause conducted with as little frankness, and proceeding 
from views, perhaps, as personally interested. 



* 



I am, dear sir, &c. 

" Geo. Washington.' 



" To his excellency Patrick Henry, esq. 
governor of Virginia." 



LIFE OF HENRY. 215 



« Camp, March 28th, 1778. 

" Dear sir, 

" Just as I was about to close my letter of yesterday, 
your favour of the fifth instant came to hand. I can only 
thank you again in the language of the most undissem- 
bled gratitude, for your friendship, and assure you, the 
indulgent disposition which Virginia in particular, and 
the states in general, entertain towards me, gives me 
the most sensible pleasure. The approbation of my 
country is what I wish; and as far as my abilities and 
opportunity will permit, I hope I shall endeavour to 
deserve it. It is the highest reward to a feeling mind ; 
and happy are they who so conduct themselves as to 
merit it. 

" The anonymous letter with which you were pleased 
to favour me, was written by ************^ so far 
as I can judge from the similitude of hands. ******* 

" My caution to avoid every thing that could injure 
the service, prevented me from communicating, except 
to a very few of my friends, the intrigues of a faction 
which I knew was formed against me, since it might 
serve to publish our internal dissentions; but their own 
restless zeal to advance their views has too clearly 
betrayed them, and made concealment on my part 
fruitless. I cannot precisely mark the extenfcof their 
views; but it appeared, in general, that general Gates 
was to be exalted on the ruin of my reputation and 
influence. This I am authorised to say from unde- 
niable facts in my own possession — from publications, 
the evident scope of which could not be mistaken — 
and from private detractions industriously circulated. 
****#*###**** it is commonly supposed, bore the 



216 SKETCHES OF THE 

second part in the cabal; and general Conway, I 
know, was a very active and malignant partisan; but I 
have good reason to believe, that their machinations 
have recoiled most sensibly upon themselves. I am, 
dear sir, &c. 

" Geo. Washington." 
" His excellency Patrick Henry, esq. 
governor of Virginia." 

The plot did recoil on its contrivers, and left general 
Washington more firmly established than ever in the 
confidence of his countrymen. 

At the spring session of 1778, Mr. Henry was again 
unanimously re-elected to the office of governor. Mr. 
Jefferson, Mr. Dandridge, and Mr. Page, the committee 
appointed to announce to him that event, received and 
reported the following answer: 

" Gentlemen, 

" The general assembly in again electing me 
governor of this commonwealth, have done me very sig- 
nal honour. I trust that their confidence thus continued 
in me will not be misplaced. 

" I beg you will be pleased, gentlemen, to present 
me to the general assembly, in terms of grateful ac- 
knowledgment for this fresh instance of their favour 
towards me; and to assure them, that my best endea- 
vours shall be used to promote the public good, in that 
station to which they have once more been pleased to 
call me." 

At this same session an act was passed, on account 
of which both Mr. Henry and the legislature have been, 
it is thought, improperly censured. I mean the act to 



LIFE OF HENRY. 217 

attaint Josiah Philips. This man, in the summer of 
1777, at the head of a banditti, commenced a course 
of crimes in the counties of Norfolk and Princess 
Anne, which spread terror and consternation on every 
hand. Availing himself of the disaffection which 
prevailed in that quarter, and taking refuge from 
occasional pursuit in the fastnesses of the Dismal 
Swamp, he had carried on a species of war against 
the innocent and defenceless, at the bare mention of 
which humanity shudders. Scarcely a night passed 
without witnessing the shrieks of women and children, 
flying by the light of their own burning houses, from 
the assaults of these merciless wretches; and every 
day was marked by the desolation of some farm, by 
robberies on the highway, or the assassination of some 
individual, whose patriotism had incurred the displeasure 
of this fierce and bloody leader of banditti. Every 
attempt to take them had hitherto proved abortive; 
when, in May, 1778, the governor received the following 
letter from Col. John Wilson: 

"Norfolk County, May 20th, 1778. 

". Honourable sir, 

" I received your letter the 14th inst. of the 12th 
April, respecting the holding the militia in readiness, 
and my attention to the arms and accoutrements, which 
I shall endeavour to comply with as far as in my power: 
that much, however, may not be expected from this 
county, I beg to observe, that the militia, of late, fail 
much in appearing at musters, submitting to the trifling 
fine of five shillings, which they argue they can afford 
to pay, by earning more at home; but I have reason to 
fear, through disaffection. With such a set of men, it 

Ee 



218 SKETCHES OF THE 

is impossible to render any service to country or county. 
A few days since, hearing of the ravages committed by 
Philips and his notorious gang, I ordered fifty men to 
be raised out of four companies, consisting of upwards 
of two hundred: of those only ten appeared, and it 
being at a private muster, I compelled twenty others 
into duty, putting them under the command of Capt. 
Josiah Wilson, who immediately marched after the 
insurgents; and that very night one fourth of his 
men deserted. Capt. Wilson still pursued, but to no 
purpose: they were either taken to their secret places 
in the swamp, or concealed by their friends, that no 
intelligence could be obtained. He then returned, his 
men declaring they could stay no longer, on account of 
their crops. I considered, therefore, that rather than 
that they should wholly desert, it might be better to 
discharge them, and wait the coming of the Nansemond 
militia, when I trusted something might be done: but of 
those men I can hear no tidings; and unless they or some 
other better men do come, it will be out of my power 
to effect any thing with the militia of this county; for 
such is their cowardly disposition, joined to their 
disaffection, that scarce a man, without being forced, 
can be raised to go after the outlyers. We have lost Capt. 
Wilson since his return: having some private business 
at a neighbour's within a mile of his own house, he 
was fired on by four men concealed in the house, and 
wounded in such a manner that he died in a few hours ; 
and this will surely be the fate of a few others, if their 
request of the removal of the relations and friends of 
those villains be not granted, which I am again pressed 
to solicit for, and in which case neither assistance, pay, 
or plunder, is expected; conceiving that to distress 
their supporters is the only means by which we can root 



LIFE OF HENRY. 219 

those wretches from us, and thereby establish peace 

and security to ourselves and families. I am, with 

great respect, honourable sir, your most obedient 

humble servant, 

"John Wilson." 

"May 24. 

" A company of about 50 men are now come from 

Nansemond; but I am informed by the captain, that they 

will not be kept above two days, five having deserted 

already. 

" Jno. Wilson." 



The governor immediately enclosed this letter to the 
house of delegates, with the following communication: 

" The honourable Benjamin Harrison, esq. speaker of 
the house of delegates. 

" Williamsburg, May 27, 1778. 

? Sir, 

" I was always unwilling to trouble the general 
assembly with any thing that seemed of too little 
consequence for their deliberation. In that view I have 
for some time considered the insurrection in Princess 
Anne and Norfolk. I have from time to time given 
orders to the commanding officers of those counties, to 
draw from the militia a force sufficient to quell it. 
These officers have often complained of the difficulty 
of the business, arising partly from the local circum- 
stances attending it, but chiefly from the backwardness 
and even disaffection of the people. In order to remove 
the latter obstacle, I gave orders for one hundred men 



220 SKETCHES OF THE 

to be drawn out into this service, from Nansemond 
county; but I am sorry to say, the almost total want of 
discipline in that and too many other militias in the 
state, seems to forbid the hope of their doing much to 
effect. 

" Col. Wilson, whose letter I inclose, has several 
times given me to understand, that, in his opinion, the 
removal of such families as are in league with the 
insurgents, was a step absolutely necessary, and has 
desired me to give orders accordingly. But thinking 
that the executive power is not competent to such a 
purpose, I must beg leave to submit the whole matter 
to the assembly, who are the only judges how far the 
methods of proceeding directed by law are to be dis- 
pensed with on this occasion. 

" A company of regulars, drawn from the several 
stations, will be ordered to co-operate with the militia, 
though indeed their scanty numbers will not permit 
it to be done without hazard. But I cannot help 
thinking this ought to be encountered ; for an apparent 
disposition to disturb the peace of this state has been 
manifested by these people during the whole course of 
the present war. It seems, therefore, that no effort to 
crush these desperadoes should be spared. 

" My duty would no longer suffer me to withhold 
these several matters from the view of the general 
assembly, to whom I beg leave to refer them through 
you. With great regard, I have the honour to be, sir, 
your most obedient humble servant, 

"P. Henry." 

This letter was communicated to the house on the day 
of its date, and was immediately referred to a committee 
of the whole house, on the state of the commonwealth. 



LIFE OP HENRY. 221 

That committee was immediately formed; but not hav- 
ing time to go through the subject, had leave to sit again. 
On the next day the house again resolved itself into a 
committee of the whole, and after some time spent 
therein, the speaker resumed the chair, and Mr. Carter 
reported on the subject of Philips, as follows: 

" Information being received, that a certain 
Philips, with divers others his associates and confede- 
rates, have levied war against this commonwealth, 
within the counties of Norfolk and Princess Anne, 
committing murders, burning houses, wasting farms, 
and doing other acts of enormity, in defiance of the 
officers of justice, 

" Resolved, That it is the opinion of this committee, 
that if the said . Philips, his associates and 

confederates, do not render themselves to some officer, 
civil or military, within this commonwealth, on or before 
day of June in this present year, such of them 
as fail so to do, ought to be attainted of high treason; 
and that in the mean time, and before such render, it 
shall be lawful for any person, with or without orders, 
to pursue and slay, or otherwise to take and deliver to 
justice the said Philips, his associates and 

confederates." 

Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Smith, and Mr. Tyler, were the 
committee appointed to prepare and bring in a bill, 
pursuant to this resolution, which was reported on the 
same day, and read the first time. On the two succeed- 
ing days it was read a second and third time; and, thus, 
regularly passed through (lie forms of the lower house. 
It was communicated to the senate by Mr. Jefferson on 
the 30th day of the month, and returned, passed by 



222 SKETCHES OF THE 

them, without amendment, on the first day of June, 
which was the last day of the session. The act, as 
it stands upon the statute book of the session, is as 
follows: 

" An act to attaint Josiah Philips and others, unless 
they render themselves to justice, within a certain 
time. 

" Whereas a certain Josiah Philips, labourer, of the 
parish of Lynhaven and county of Princess Anne, 
together with divers others, inhabitants of the counties 
of Princess Anne and Norfolk, and citizens of this 
commonwealth, contrary to their fidelity, associating 
and confederating together, have levied war against 
this commonwealth, within the same, committing mur- 
ders, burning houses, wasting farms, and doing other 
acts of hostility in the said counties of Princess Anne 
and Norfolk, and still continue to exercise the same 
enormities on the good people of this commonwealth; 
and, whereas, the delays which would attend the pro- 
ceeding to outlaw the said offenders, according to the 
usual forms and procedures of the courts of law, would 
leave the said good people, for a long time, exposed to 
murder and devastation: 

" Be it, therefore, enacted by the general assembly, 
That if the said Josiah Philips, his associates and con- 
federates, shall not, on or before the last day of June in 
the present year, render themselves to the governor, 
or to some member of the privy council, judge of the 
general court, justice of the peace, or commissioned 
officer of the regular troops, navy, or militia of this 
commonwealth, in order to their trials for the treasons, 
murders, and other felonies by them committed, that, 



LIFE OF HENRY. 223 

then, such of them, the said Josiah Philips, his asso- 
ciates and confederates, as shall not so render him or 
themselves, shall stand and be convicted and attainted 
of high treason, and shall suffer the pains of death, and 
incur all forfeitures, penalties, and disabilities, prescrib- 
ed by the law against those convicted and attainted of 
high treason; and that execution of this sentence of 
attainder shall be done, by order of the general court, 
to be entered so soon as may be conveniently, after 
notice that any of the said offenders are in custody 
of the keeper of the public jail. And if any person 
committed to the custody of the keeper of the public 
jail, as an associate or confederate of the said Josiah 
Philips, shall allege that he hath not been of his asso- 
ciates or confederates, at any time after the first day of 
July, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hun- 
dred and seventy-seven, at which time the said murders 
and devastations were begun, a petit jury shall be sum- 
moned and charged, according to the forms of the law, 
to try, in the presence of the said court, the fact so 
alleged; and if it be found against the defendant, 
execution of this act shall be done as before di- 
rected. 

" And that the good people of this commonwealth 
may not, in the mean time, be subject to the unrestrain- 
ed hostilities of the said insurgents: Be it further 
enacted, That from and after the passing of this act, it 
shall be lawful for any person, with or without orders, 
to pursue and slay the said Josiah Philips, and any 
others who have been of his associates or confederates, 
at any time after the said first day of July aforesaid, 
and shall not have previously rendered him or them- 
selves to any of the officers, civil or military, before 
described, or otherwise to take and deliver them to 



224> SKETCHES OF THE 

justice, to be dealt with according to law. Provided, that 
the person so slain be in arms at the time, or endeavour- 
ing to escape being taken." 

Philips was apprehended in the course of the autumn, 
and indicted by Mr. Edmund Randolph, attorney-gene- 
ral, for highway robbery, simply. On this charge he 
ivas tried at the October term of the general court, 
convicted, and executed: so that the act of attainder was 
never brought to bear upon him at all. This is the 
whole case of Josiah Philips. The reader will judge 
whether Mr. Henry deserves censure for having 
communicated to the legislature the letter of colonel 
Wilson ; or whether that body acted with too much 
severity towards a wretch, who had not only set the laws 
of his country at defiance, but was waging a cruel and 
dastardly war upon men without arms, upon women 
and children; and acting, not the part of a brave and 
open enemy, but that of an enemy of the human 
family. 

Just at the close of Mr. Henry's administration, 
Virginia suffered an invasion of a few days under the 
British officers, Collin and Matthew. They seized 
Fort Nelson near Norfolk, destroyed the naval stores 
at Gosport, burnt Suffolk, and disappeared, before the 
militia could be rallied to chastise their insolence. This 
occurred in the month of May 1779; and the facility 
and impunity with which the enterprise was accom- 
plished, very probably suggested the more serious 
invasion of the state, which afterwards took place 
under the traitor Arnold. 

It would seem, that a wish was entertained to re-elect 
Mr. Henry to the office of governor a fourth time, 
although the constitution declared him ineligible after 



LIFE OF HENRY. 225 

the third year. The impression seems to have been 
that his appointment for the first year, not having been 
made by delegates who had themselves been elected 
under the constitution, ought not to be counted as one of 
the constitutional years of service. Mr. Henry, however, 
had too scrupulous a respect for that instrument to 
accept the office, even in a doubtful case; and, therefore, 
addressed the following letter to the speaker: 

" May 28th, 1779, 

" Sir, 

" The term for which I had the honour to be 
elected governor by the late assembly being just about 
to expire, and the constitution, as I think, making me 
ineligible to that office, I take the liberty to communicate 
to the assembly through you, sir, my intention to retire 
in four or five days. 

" I have thought it necessaiy to give this notification 
of my design, in order that the assembly may have the 
earliest opportunity of deliberating upon the choice of a 
successor to me in office. 

" With great regard, I have the honour to be, sir, 
your most obedient servant, 

" P. Henry." 

Thus closed Mr. Henry's administration: and although 
he had not had an opportunity of distinguishing it by any 
splendid achievement, it is honour enough that he had 
given universal satisfaction, and that he retired with a 
popularity confirmed and increased. 
1 It has been thought best not to break the chain of 
the narrative as to his public character, by noticing 
the changes which had before this time occurred in his 

Ff 



226 SKETCHES OF THE 

domestic relations. It may be proper to pause here for 
the purpose of supplying this omission. 

His wife, the partner of his youth, and the solace of 
his early adversities, had died in the year 1775, after 
having made him the father of six children. The anguish 
of this blow was mitigated by the circumstance of her 
having been, for several years, in a state of ill health 
and of suffering, from which there was no hope of 
recovery; and to her, therefore, death indeed "came 
like a friend to relieve her from pain." 

Neither had the father lived to witness the promotion 
of his son to the highest honours of the republic. He had 
lived, however, long enough to enjoy the first bloom of 
his fame, and to see him the most celebrated and rising 
character in the state. He had died about the year 1770, 
and left behind him a name highly respectable for every 
private and social virtue. 

His uncle, for whom he seems to have had a strong 
affection, had died during his government, and in token 
of his affection and respect, had appointed him the 
executor of his will. 

His tender and indulgent mother still survived, and 
felt all that pure and exquisite delight, which the well 
deserved honours of her son were calculated to inspire. 

After the death of his wife, Mr. Henry sold the 
farm called Scotch Town, on which he had resided in 
Hanover, and purchased eight or ten thousand acres of 
valuable land in the county of Henry; a county which 
had been erected during his government, and which 
had taken its name from him, as did afterwards its 
neighbouring county of Patrick. In the year MlUjf 
he intermarried with Dorothea, the daughter of Mr. 
Nathaniel W. Dandridge, with whom, after the resig- 



LIFE OF HENRY. 221 

nation or expiration of his office, he removed to his 
newly acquired estate called Leatherwood, and there 
resumed the practice of the law. In the year 1 780, we 
find him again in the assembly, and one of the most 
active members in the house. 

During the winter session of this year, general 
Gates entered the city of Richmond from his southern 
campaign, where he had most wofully fulfilled general 
Lee's prediction.* His total defeat at Camden, and a 
series of subsequent ill fortune, had left South Carolina 
completely in the hands of the victorious British; and 
to increase his humiliation, congress had not only 
superseded him in that command, by the substitution of 
general Greene, but had passed a resolution requiring 
the commander in chief to order a court of enquiry on 
his conduct. Under these accumulated disgraces, the 
unfortunate general entered the city of Richmond; when 
Mr. Henry moved a resolution, which displays, in a most 
engaging light, the delicate and generous sensibility of 
his character: it was as follows: 

" Resolved, That a committee of four be appointed 
to wait on major-general Gates, and to assure him of 
the high regard and esteem of this house; that the 
remembrance of his former glorious services cannot be 
obliterated by any reverse of fortune; but that this 
house, ever mindful of his great merit, will omit no 
opportunity of testifying to the world, the gratitude 
which, as a member of the American union, this country 
wes to him in his military character." 



• 



* When general Charles Lee heard of general Gates' appointment to the 
command of the southern army, he foretold " that his northern laurels would 
be turned into sontfiern ~mIIo-ws." 



228 SKETCHES OF THE 

The author may be permitted to say of a state, 
which is his only by adoption, that, in an assembly of 
Virginians, this generous resolution could not fail to pass 
unanimously. The committee appointed to communi- 
cate it to the general were, Mr. Henry, Mr. Richard H. 
Lee, Mr. Zane, and general Nelson. We may be 
assured, that a committee, chosen with so much judg- 
ment,* discharged their duty in a manner the most 
grateful to the wounded feelings of the general; and 
on the next day Mr. Henry reported the following 
answer, which was spread upon the journal: 

" Richmond, December 28th, 1780. 

" Sir, 

" I shall ever remember with the utmost gratitude, 
the high honour this day done me by the honourable 
the house of delegates of Virginia. When engaged in 
the noble cause of freedom and the United States,. I 
devoted myself entirely to the service of obtaining the 
great end of their union. That I have been once 
unfortunate is my great mortification ; but, let the event 
of my future services be what they may, they will, as 
they always have been, be directed by the most faithful 
integrity, and animated by the truest zeal for the honour 
and interest of the United States. 

" Horatio Gates." 

The spring and summer of the next year presented a 
period of even deeper darkness than the autumn of 

* Mr. Henry, the mover, had recently closed his administration with 
honour, as the first republican governor of Virginia, and was the most 
considerable man in the commonwealth ; Mr. Lee was a member of the 
congress, whose vote we have just mentioned ; Mr. Zane represented the 
countv in which general Gates lived; and general Nelson was the most 
popular military character in the state. 



K 



LIFE OP HENRY. 229 

1776. Virginia had not, hitherto, been the theatre of 
hostile operations of a very serious character; her 
sufferings had been rather those of sympathy with her 
northern and southern sisters; but in this year the cala- 
mities of war were brought home to her own bosom. 
Arnold's invasion took place in January: having carried 
his ravages as high up as Richmond and Westham, he 
retired to Portsmouth, where he rested till April, when 
general Philips succeeded to the command, and paid 
another visit of desolation to Manchester. In the next 
month came lord Cornwallis, with his victorious army 
from the south, driving every thing before him, and 
striking terror into whatsoever quarter he approached. 
Having formed a junction between his forces and those 
under the command of general Philips, there was no 
longer a military force in the state which had the power 
to resist him. The inferior body of republican troops, 
under the marquis la Fayette, moved before him, with- 
out the ability to strike a blow; and Cornwallis roamed 
at pleasure, and without any apprehension, through the 
interior of the state. 

The seventh of May was the day appointed by law 
for the meeting of the assembly at Richmond. A few 
members met and took the oaths prescribed by law; but 
the number not being sufficient to proceed to business, 
the house was adjourned from day to day until the 10th; 
when, upon information of the approach of the enemy, 
they adjourned to the 24th, to meet at Charlottesville. 
It was not until the 28th that a house was formed to 
roceed to business at this place; when Mr. Benjamin 
arrison was elected speaker, and after making the 
usual acknowledgments for that honour, proceeded to 
address the following remarks to the house; which I 
quote, not because they are a very favourable specimen 



/ 



230 SKETCHES OF THE 

of Mr. Harrison's oratory, but to show the panic which 
prevailed even among the first men of the country. — 
" The critical and dangerous situation of our country 
leads me to hope, that my recommending it to you to 
despatch the weighty matters that will be under your 
consideration, with all convenient speed, will not be 
taken amiss: the people expect that effectual and deci- 
sive measures will be taken to rid them of an impla- 
cable enemy, that are now roaming at large in the very 
bowels of our country, and I have no doubt of your 
answering their expectations; the mode of doing this 
may indeed be difficult: but it not being my province to 
point it out, I shall leave it to your wisdom, in full con- 
fidence that every thing that is necessary for quieting 
the minds and dispelling the fears of our constituents, 
will be done/ 5 

Eight days after this address, Mr. John Jouett, a 
citizen of the place, entered the town on horseback, at 
full speed, and announced the near and rapid approach 
of Tarlton, at the head of three hundred cavalry and 
mounted infantry. The house had just met, and was 
about to commence business, when the alarming cry of 
"Tarlton and the British," was spread through the 
village; and they had scarcely taken time to adjourn 
informally to Staunton, when Tarlton rushed like a 
thunderbolt into the village, in the confident expecta- 
tion of seizing the whole assembly: but the birds had 
flown. He made seven of them only prisoners. The 
rest re-assembled in Staunton, on the 7th of June. On 
the 10th of June, a false report of his approach pro^ 
duced another panic; and the house having merely tak(9 
time to resolve that they would meet at the Warm 
Springs, if it should be found dangerous to meet in 
Staunton on the next day; and on their failure so to do, 



LIFE OP HENRY. 231 

that the speaker might call a meeting, when and where 
he pleased, again broke up and dispersed. 

It was at this period of almost hopeless darkness, 
when the energies of the state seemed to have been 
pretty nearly paralyzed, that the project of a dictator was 
again revived; and it is again highly probable, that Mr. 
Henry was the character who was in view for that 
office. Enquiries have been made of the surviving mem- 
bers of that assembly to ascertain whether the project 
could be traced to him, or whether he had any kind of 
participation in the proposal; but those enquiries have 
resulted in a conviction of his entire innocence. The 
project came from other quarters, and seems to have 
been the last refuge of that general despair, which for 
a short time pervaded the whole commonwealth. 

But this period of deep darkness was the harbinger 
of breaking day. The morning dawned with the arrival 
of those aids from France, which Mr. Henry had so long 
ago predicted; and the sun of American independence 
arose, to set no more. He lived to witness the glorious 
issue of that revolution which his genius had set in motion; 
and (to repeat his own prophetic language, before the 
commencement of the struggle) " to see America take 
her stand among the nations of the earth." The contest 
closed with the capture of Cornwallis at Little York, on 
the 19th of October, 1781; and thus, the ball of the 
revolution rested in the same state in which it had 
received the first impulse. 

This enlightened and patriotic statesman, however, 

jfifes not yet inclined to indulge himself in that repose to 

B^ich he was so well entitled. The constitution of the 

state had as yet been tried only in war, when the sense 

of common danger, and their ardour in the common 

cause, might of themselves have been sufficient to keep 



232 * SKETCHES OF THE 

the people together, and to supply, in a good degree, 
the place of government. 

It was necessary to see how the instrument would 
work in peace; what assurance it gave of public order 
and well regulated liberty; or whether any, and what 
defects in the plan required amendment. 

There were other considerations, too, which called 
loudly for attention. The war had left the country in a 
most deplorable situation: poor and in debt; its warriors 
unrequited; its finances wholly deranged; its jurispru- 
dence unsettled; and all its faculties weak, disordered, 
and exhausted. This was no time for the patriot to quit 
his post. It demanded all his vigilance to guard the 
infant republic against the machinations of its enemies, 
both abroad and at home; it required all his care and 
all his skill to heal the numerous disorders which had 
flowed from the war; to nurse the new-born nation into 
health and strength; to develop its resources, moral and 
physical; and thus to give security and permanence to 
its liberties. 

With the view of contributing his aid to those great 
objects, Mr. Henry still continued to represent the 
county of his residence, in the legislature of the state, 
and controlled the proceedings of that body, with a 
weight of personal authority, and a power of eloquence, 
which it was extremely difficult, and indeed almost 
impossible to resist. A striking evidence of this power 
was given, immediately on the close of the revolution, 
in his advocating the return of the British refugees. The 
measure was most vehemently opposedt There was^ 
class of human beings against whom such violent an« 
deep-rooted prejudices existed. The name of " British 
tory," was of itself enough, at that period, to throw 
almost any company in Virginia into flames, and was 



LIFE OF HENRY. 233 

pretty generally a signal for a coat of tar and feathers; 
a signal which was not very often disobeyed. Mr. 
Henry's proposition in favour of a class of people so 
odious could not fail to excite the strongest surprise; 
and was, at first, received with a repugnance apparently 
insuperable. The late judge Tyler, then the speaker of 
the house, opposed it in the committee of the whole, with 
great warmth; and in the course of the discussion, turn- 
ing from the chairman to Mr. Henry, he asked him, 
" how lie, above all other men, could think of inviting 
into his family, an enemy, from whose insults and inju- 
ries he had suffered so severely?" To this Mr Henry 
answered, " that the personal feelings of a politician 
ought not to be permitted to enter those walls. The 
question (he said) was a national one, and in deciding it, 
if they acted wisely, nothing would be regarded but the 
interest of the nation. On the altar of his country's 
good he was willing to sacrifice all personal resentments, 
all private wrongs — and he flattered himself, that he 
was not the only man in the house who was capable of 
making such a sacrifice. We have, sir, (said he,) an 
extensive country, without population — what can be a 
more obvious policy than that this country ought to be 
peopled? — people, sir, form the strength and constitute 
the wealth of a nation. I want to see our vast forests 
filled up by some process a little more speedy than the 
ordinary course of nature. I wish to see these states 
rapidly ascending to that rank which their natural 
advantages authorize them to hold among the nations 
(he earth. ^Jast your eyes, sir, over this extensive 
ntry — observe the salubrity of your climate; the 
variety and fertility of your soil — and see that soil inter- 
sected in every quarter by bold navigable streams, flow- 



adv; 



234 SKETCHES OF THE 

ing to the east and to the west, as if the finger of Hea- 
ven were marking out the course of your settlements, 
inviting you to enterprise, and pointing the way to wealth. 
Sir, you are destined, at some time or other, to become 
a great agricultural and commercial people; the only 
question is, whether you choose to reach this point by 
slow gradations, and at some distant period — lingering 
on through a long and sickly minority — subjected, 
meanwhile, to the machinations, insults, and oppressions 
of enemies foreign and domestic, without sufficient 
strength to resist and chastise them — or whether you 
choose rather to rush at once, as it were, to the full 
enjoyment of those high destinies,, and be able to cope, 
single-handed, with the proudest oppressor of the old 
world. If you prefer the latter course, as I trust you 
do, encourage emigration — encourage the husbandmen, 
the mechanics, the merchants of the old world, to 
come and settle in this land of promise — make it the 
home of the skilful, the industrious, the fortunate and 
happy, as well as the asylum of the distressed — fill up 
the measure of your population as speedily as you can, 
by the means which Heaven hath placed in your 
p 0Wer — and I venture to prophesy there are those now 
living who will see this favoured land amongst the most 
powerful on earth — able, sir, to take care of herself, 
without resorting to that policy which is always so 
dangerous, though sometimes unavoidable, of calling in 
foreign aid. Yes, sir — they will see her great in - arts 
and in arms — her golden harvests waving over fields of 
immeasurable extent — her commercejpenetrating the 
most distant seas, and her cannon silencing the vain 
boasts of those who now proudly affect to rule the waves. 
But, sir, you must have men — you cannot get along 



LIFE OF HENRY. 235 

without them — those heavy forests of valuable timber, 
under which your lands are groaning, must be cleared 
away — those vast riches which cover the face of your 
soil, as well as those which lie hid in its bosom, are to 
be developed and gathered only by the skill and enter- 
prise of men — your timber, sir, must be worked up into 
ships, to transport the productions of the soil from 
which it has been cleared — then, you must have com- 
mercial men and commercial capital, to take off your 
productions, and find the best markets for them abroad 
— your great want, sir, is the want of men; and these 
you must have, and will have speedily, if you are wise. 
Do you ask how you are to get them? — Open your 
doors, sir, and they will come in — the population of the 
old world is full to overflowing — that population is 
ground, too, by the oppressions of the governments under 
which they live. Sir, they are already standing on tip- 
toe upon their native shores, and looking to your coasts 
with a wishful and longing eye — they see here a land 
blessed with natural and political advantages, which are 
not equalled by those of any other country upon earth 
— a land on which a gracious Providence hath emptied 
the horn of abundance — a land over which Peace hath 
now stretched forth her white wings, and where Content 
and Plenty lie down at every door! Sir, they see some- 
thing still more attractive than all this — they see a land 
in which Liberty hath taken up her abode — that Liberty, 
whom they had considered as a fabled goddess, existing 
only in the fancies of poets — they see her here a real 
vinity — her altars rising on every hand throughout 
se happy sStes — her glories chaunted by three mil- 
ns of tongues — and the whole region smiling under 
her blessed influence. Sir, let but this our celestial 



the 

llOl 



236 SKETCHES OF THE 

goddess, Liberty, stretch forth her fair hand towards 
the people of the old world — tell them to come, and bid 
them welcome — and you will see them pouring in from 
the north — from the south — from the east, and from 
the west — your wildernesses will be cleared and settled 
— your deserts will smile — your ranks will be filled — 
and you will soon be in a condition to defy the powers 
of any adversary. 

" But gentlemen object to any accession from Great 
Britain — and particularly to the return of the British 
refugees. Sir, I feel no objection to the return of those 
deluded people — they have, to be sure, mistaken their 
own interests most wofully, and most wofully have they 
suffered the punishment due to their offences. But the 
relations which we bear to them and to their native 
country are now changed — their king hath acknow- 
ledged our independence — the quarrel is over — peace 
hath returned, and found us a free people. Let us 
have the magnanimity, sir, to lay aside our antipathies 
and prejudices, and consider the subject in a political 
light — those are an enterprising monied people— ^they 
will be serviceable in taking off the surplus produce 
of our lands, and supplying us with necessaries, dur- 
ing the infant state of our manufactures. Even if 
they be inimical to us in point of feeling and principle, 
I can see no objection, in a political view, in making 
them tributary to our advantage. And as I have no 
prejudices to prevent my making this use of them, so, 
sir, I have no fear of any mischief that they can do us. 
Afraid of them! — what, sir, (said he, rising to one of 
loftiest attitudes, and assuming a look of the most in 
nant and sovereign contempt,) shall ive, who have la™ 
the proud British lion at our feet, now be afraid of his 
whelps?" 




LIFE OP HENRY. 2S7 

The force of this figure, and the energy with which 
it was brought out, are said to have produced an effect 
that made the house start simultaneously. It continued 
to be admired, long after the occasion which gave it 
birth had passed away, and was frequently quoted by 
Mr. Wythe to his students, while professor of law at 
William and Mary College, as a happy specimen of those 
valuable figures, which unite the beauty of decoration 
with the effect of argument. 

The gentleman to whom I am indebted for the 
preceding incident,* has favoured me also with the 
following one, which I shall give in his own words: — 
" Mr. Henry espoused the measure which took off the 
restraints on British commerce, before any treaty was 
entered into; in which I opposed him on this ground, 
that that measure would expel from this country the 
trade of every other nation, on account of our habits, 
language, and the manner of conducting business on 
credit between us and them: also on this ground, in 
addition to the above, that if w 7 e changed the then 
current of commerce, we should drive away all compe- 
tition, and never perhaps should regain it, (which has 
literally happened.) In reply to these observations, he 
was beyond all expression eloquent and sublime. After 
painting the distresses of the people, struggling through 
a perilous war, cut off from commerce so long that 
they were naked and unclothed, he concluded with a 
figure, or rather with a series of figures, which I 
shall never forget, because, beautiful as they were 
in themselves, ^Jieir effect was heightened beyond all 
fcription, by the manner in which he acted what he 

* Judge Tylev. 



238 ' SKETCHES OF THE 

spoke: — 'Why/ said he, c should we fetter commerce? 
If a man is in chains, he droops and bows to the earth, 
for his spirits are broken, (looking sorrowfully at his 
feet;) but let him twist the fetters from his legs, and he 
will stand erect (straightening himself, and assuming a 
look of proud defiance.) Fetter not commerce, sir — 
let her be as free as air — she will range the whole 
creation, and return on the wings of the four winds of 
heaven, to bless the land with plenty/ " 

In the fall session of 1 784, Mr. Henry proposed and 
advocated several measures which deserve particular 
mention ; one of them, on account of the originality and 
boldness of mind from which it proceeded; and others, 
because they have sometimes been made the subjects of 
censure against him. The first respects the Indians. 
Those unfortunate beings, the natural enemies of the 
white people, whom they regarded as lawless intruders 
into a country set apart for themselves by the Great 
Spirit, had continued, from their first landing, to harass 
the white settlements, and hang like a pestilence on 
their frontier, as it advanced itself towards the west. 
The story of their accumulated wrongs, handed down 
by tradition from father to son, and emblazoned with all 
the colours of Indian oratory, had kept their war fires 
smoking from age to age, and the hatchet and scalping 
knife perpetually bright. They had long since aban- 
doned the hope of being able, by their single strength, 
to exterminate the usurpers of their soil; but either from 
the spirit of habitual and deadly revenge, or from the 
policy of checking, as far as they could, the perpetually 
extending encroachments of the white men, they* 
waged an unremitting war upon their borders, marSI^ 
with horrors which eclipse the wildest fictions of the 



LIFE OF HENRY. 239 

legendary tale.* These people, too, besides the mis- 
chiefs to which they were prompted by their own 
feelings and habits, were an ever ready and a most 
terrific scourge, in the hands of any enemy with whom 
this country might be at variance. Dunmore, although 
thanked at the time for his services, was afterwards 
believed, by the house of burgesses, to have made use 
of them in the years 1774-5, in order to draw off the 
attention of the colonists from the usurpation of the 
British court: and, in the recent war of the revolution, 
that merciless enemy had been again let loose upon our 
frontier, with all the terrors of savage warfare. The 
return of peace with Britain had given us but a short 
respite from their hostilities. I perceive, by the journal 
of the house of delegates, that on the 5th of November, 
1 784, it was, on the motion of Mr. Henry, 

" Resolved, That the governor with the advice of 
council, be requested to adopt such measures as may be 
found necessary, to avert the danger of hostilities with 
the Indians, and to' incline them to treat with the 
commissioners of congress; and for that purpose to draw 
on the treasury for any sum of money not exceeding 

* The stories of these border skirmishes, which yet live in the traditions of 

the west, are highly worthy of collection. They exhibit scenes of craft, 

boldness, and ferocity, on the part of the savages, and of heroic and desperate 

defence by the semi-barbarous men, women, and children, who were the 

objects of these attacks, which mark the characters of both sides in a most 

interesting manner. Those tales of the long, obstinate, and bloody defence 

of log cabins; of the almost incredible achievements of women and little 

boys ; of the sometimes total and sometimes partial havoc of families; of the 

^■ptivity, tortures, and death, of some ; and the miraculous escape, wander- 

^k, and preservation, of others — would form a book of more interest than 

pother that could be put into the hands of a Virginian reader ; and would 

TOrnish the subject of many a novel, drama, and painting. The adventure of 

captain Smith and Pocahontas, if you put aside the dignity of their characters, 

is cold and tame, when compared" with some which are related among the 

western inhabitants of this state. 



#40 SKETCHES OF THE 

one thousand pounds, which shall stand charged to the 
account of money issued for the contingent charges of 
government." 

A treaty with the Indians, however, was well known 
to be a miserable expedient; the benefits of which would 
scarcely last as long as the ceremonies that produced it. 
The reflecting politician could not help seeing, that, in 
order to remove the annoyance effectually, the remedy 
must go to the root of the disease — that that inveterate 
and fatal enmity which rankled in the hearts of the. 
Indians must be eradicated — that a common interest 
and congenial feelings between them and their white 
neighbours must be created — and humanity and civiliza- 
tion gradually superinduced upon the Indian character. 
The difficulty lay in devising a mode to effect these 
objects. The white people who inhabited the frontier, 
from the constant state of warfare in which they lived 
with the Indians, had imbibed much of their character; 
and learned to delight so highly in scenes of crafty, 
bloody, and desperate conflict, that they as often gave as 
they received the provocation to hostilities. 

Hunting, which was their occupation, became dull 
and tiresome, unless diversified occasionally by the more 
animated and piquant amusement of an Indian skirmish; 
just as " the blood more stirs to rouse a lion than 
to start a hare." The policy, therefore, which was 
to produce the deep and beneficial change that was 
meditated, must have respect to both sides, and be 
calculated to implant kind affections in bosoms, whic 
at present were filled only with reciprocal and dea 
hatred. The remedy suggested by Mr. Henry w 
to encourage marriages between these coterminous 
enemies; and having succeeded in the committee of the 



ich 



LIFE OF HENRY. 241 

whole house in procuring the report of a resolution to 
this effect, he prepared a bill which he is said to have 
advocated with irresistible earnestness and eloquence. 
The inducements held out by this bill, to promote these 
marriages, were, pecuniary bounties to be given on the 
certificate of marriage, and to be repeated at the birth 
of each child; exemption from taxes; and the free use 
of a seminary of learning, to be erected for the purpose, 
and supported at the expense of the state.* 

* This bill, which is thought Avorthy of preservation as a political 
curiosity, is as follows : 

" A bill for the encouragement of marriages with the Indians. 
"Whereas intermarriages between the citizens of this commonwealth 
and the Indians living in its neighbourhood, may have great effect in con- 
ciliating the friendship and confidence of the latter, whereby not only their 
civilization may in some degree be finally brought about, but in the mean 
time their hostile inroads be prevented : for encouraging such intermai-- 
riages, Be it enacted by the general assembly, That if any free white male 
inhabitant of this commonwealth shall, according to the laws thereof, enter 
into the bonds of matrimony with an Indian female, being of lawful age, 
and under no precontract to any Indian male, and shall thereby induce her 
to become an inhabitant of this commonwealth, and to live with him in the 
character of a wife, such male inhabitant, on producing a certificate of such 
marriage under the hand and seal of the person celebrating the same, shall 
be entitled to receive a premium of pounds, out of any unappro- 
priated money which the treasurer may have in his hands, or of such money 
as may hereafter be appropriated to such use ; shall, over and above such 
premium, be entitled to the sum of— — pounds for every child proceeding 
from such marriage, on a certificate of the birth thereof and their apparent 
cohabitancy, under the hand and seal of any one justice of the peace of the 
county in which he resides, and shall moreover be exempted from all taxes 
on his person and property for and during such cohabitancy. 

" And be it further enacted, That if any free female inhabitant of this com- 
monwealth shall, in like manner, intermarry with any male Indian of lawful 

age, they shall, on a certificate thereof as aforesaid, be entitled to 

pounds, to be paid as aforesaid, and laid out under the direction of the 

Jburt of the county, within which such marriage shall be celebrated, in 

j^^^purchase of live stock for his and her use, and such male Indian 

H be annually on the first day of October, entitled to pounds, to 

be paid as aforesaid, and laid out under the direction of the said court, in 
the purchase of clothes for his use; and each male child proceeding from 
such intermarriage shall, at the age of 23| be removed to such public 

h h 



SKETCHES OF THE 

While Mr. Henry continued a member of the house, 
the progress of this bill was unimpeded. It passed 
through a first and second reading, and was engrossed 
for its final passage, when his election as governor took 
effect, and displaced him from the floor: on the third 
day after which event the bill was read a third time 
and rejected. 

It were an useless waste of time to speculate on the 
probable effects of this measure, had it succeeded. It is 
considered, however, as indicative of great humanity 
of character, and as marked with great boldness, 
if not soundness of policy. Mr. Henry is said to 
have been extremely sanguine as to its efficacy, and to 
have supported it by some of the Highest displays of 
his eloquence. 

The other two measures to which I have adverted as 
having been patronized by Mr. Henry at this session 
were, the incorporation of the protestant episcopal 
church, and what is called "a general assessment." 



seminary of learning as the executive may direct, and be there educated 
until the age of twenty-one, at the public expense, to be defrayed out of such 
funds as may hereafter be appropriated to the same. And the governor, 
with the advice of council, is hereby authorized and desired to cause the 
benefit of this provision to be extended to all such male children ; and if any 
such male Indian shall become an inhabitant of this commonwealth, he shall 
be moreover exempted from all taxes on his person or the property he may 
acquire. 

" And be it further enacted, That the offspring of the intermarriages afore- 
said shall be entitled, in all fcspects, to the same rights and privileges, under 
the laws of this commonwealth, as if they had proceeded from intermarriages 
among free white inhabitants thereof. 

" And be it further enacted, That the executive do take the most effe 
and speedy measures for promulging this act to such tribe or trib 
Indians as they may think necessary." 

On the third reading of the bill, the first blank was filled with ten — the 
second with Jive — the third with ten — the fourth with three — and the fifth 
with ten years. 



.1 



LIFE OF HENRY. 243 

These measures have been frequently stated, in conver- 
sation, as proofs of a leaning on the part of Mr. Henry 
towards an established church, and that, too, the aristo- 
cratic church of England. To test the justness of this 
charge, the journals of the house of delegates have been 
examined, and this is the result of the evidence which 
they furnish: on the 17th of November, 1784, Mr. 
Matthews reported from the committee of the whole 
house, on the state of the commonwealth, the following 
resolution: 

" Resolved, That it is the opinion of this committee, 
that acts ought to pass for the incorporation of all 
societies of the Christian religion, lohich may apply for 
tJie same" 

The ayes and noes having been called for, on the 
passage of this resolution, were, ayes sixty-two, noes 
twenty-three; Mr. Henry being with the majority. 

The principle being thus established in relation to all 
religious societies, which should desire a legal existence 
for the beneht of acquiring and holding property to the 
use of their respective churches, leave was given, on the 
same day, to bring in a bill to incorporate the clergy of 
the protestant episcopal church, which had brought 
itself within that principle by having applied for an act 
of incorporation; and Mr. Henry was one, but not the 
chairman,* of the committee appointed to bring in that 
bill. How a measure which holds out to all religious 
societies, equally, the same benefit, can be charged with 
J^rtiality, because accepted by one only, it is not very 

* The chairman was Mr. Carter H. Harrison ; the rest of the committee 
were Mr. Henry, Mr. Thomas Smith, Mr. William Anderson, and Mr. 
Tazewell. 



244 SKETCHES OF THE 

easy to discern. It would seem, to an ordinary mind, 
that, on the same principle, the Christian religion itself 
might be charged with partiality, since its offers, 
though made to all, are accepted but by few; and it is 
very certain, that if Mr. Henry is to be suspected of a 
bias towards an established church, on account of this 
vote, the charge will reach some of the foremost and 
best established republicans in the state, whose names 
stand recorded with Mr. Henry's on this occasion, and 
who hold to this day the undiminished confidence of 
their countrymen. 

The other measure, the general assessment, proceed- 
ed from a number of petitions from different counties of 
the commonwealth, which prayed, that as all persons 
enjoyed the benefits of religion, all might be required to 
contribute to the expense of supporting some form of 
worship or other. The committee to whom these peti- 
tions were referred, reported a bill whose preamble sets 
forth the grounds of the proceeding, and furnishes a 
conclusive refutation of the charge of partiality to any 
particular form of religion. The bill is entitled, " A 
bill, establishing a provision for teachers of the Chris- 
tian religion;" and its preamble is in the following 
words: — " Whereas the general diffusion of Christian 
knowledge hath a natural tendency to correct the 
morals of men, restrain their vices, and preserve the 
peace of society; which cannot be effected without a 
competent provision for learned teachers, who may be 
thereby enabled to devote their time and attention to 
the duty of instructing such citizens as, from their cir- 
cumstances and want of education, cannot otherwi%x 
attain such knowledge; and it is judged such provision 
may be made by the legislature, without counteracting 
the liberal iwinciple heretofore adopted and intended to 



LIFE OF HENRY. 245 

be preserved, by abolishing all distinctions of pre-emi- 
nence amongst the different societies or communities of 
Christians" The provisions of the bill are in the 
strictest conformity with the principles announced in 
the close of the preamble; the persons subject to taxes 
are required, at the time of giving in a list of their titlie- 
ables, to declare to what particular religious society they 
choose to appropriate the sums assessed upon them, 
respectively; and, in the event of their failing or declin- 
ing to specify any appropriation, the sums thus circum- 
stanced are directed to be paid to the treasurer, and 
applied by the general assembly to the encouragement 
of seminaries of learning, in the counties where such 
sums shall arise. If there be any evidence of a leaning 
towards any particular religious sect in this bill, or any 
indication of a desire for an established church, the 
author of these sketches has not been able to discover 
them. Mr. Henry was a sincere believer in the Chris- 
tian religion, and had a strong desire for the successful 
propagation of the gospel, but there was no tincture of 
bigotry or intolerance in his sentiments; nor have I been 
able to learn that he had a punctilious preference for any 
particular form of worship. His faith regarded the vital 
spirit of the gospel, and busied itself not at all with 
external ceremonies or controverted tenets. 

Both these bills, " for incorporating the protestant 
episcopal church," and " establishing a provision for 
teachers of the Christian religion/' were reported after 
Mr. Henry had ceased to be a member of the house; 
but the resolutions on which they were founded were 
•adopted while he continued a member, and had his 
warmest support. The first bill passed into a law; the 
last was rejected by a small majority, on the third 
reading. 



246 SKETCHES OF THE 

The same session afforded Mr. Henry a double 
opportunity of gratifying, in the most exquisite manner, 
that naturally bland and courteous spirit, which so emi- 
nently distinguished his character. General Washington 
and the marquis la Fayette, both of them objects of the 
warmest love and gratitude to this country, visited Rich- 
mond in November. They arrived on different days. 
The general entered the city on the 15th, and the 
journal of the next morning exhibits the following 
order: " The house being informed of the arrival 
of general Washington in this city, Resolved, nemine 
conlradicente, that as a mark of their reverence for his 
character and affection for his person, a committee of 
five members be appointed to wait upon him, with the 
respectful regard of this house, to express to him the 
satisfaction they feel in the opportunity afforded by his 
presence of offering this tribute to his merits; and to 
assure him, that as they not only retain the most lasting 
impressions of the transcendent services rendered in 
his late public character, but have, since his return 
to private life, experienced proofs, that no change of 
situation can turn his thoughts from the welfare of 
his country, so his happiness can never cease to be 
an object of their most devout wishes and fervent 
supplications." 

" And a committee was appointed of Mr. Henry, Mr. 
Jones, (of King George,) Mr. Madison, Mr. Carter H. 
Harrison, and Mr. Carrington." 

To this spontaneous and unanimous burst of feeling, 
general Washington returned an answer marked with 
his characteristic modesty, and full of the most touch-* 
ing sensibility. It is worthy of insertion, as showing, in 
a soft and winning light, a character, with which we are 
apt to associate only the images of a dignity and reserve. 



LIFE OP HENRY. 247 

approaching to sternness. " Gentlemen," said he, " my 
sensibility is deeply affected by this distinguished mark 
of the affectionate regard of your honourable house. 
I lament, on this occasion, the want of those powers 
which would enable me to do justice to my feelings, and 
shall rely upon your indulgent report to supply the 
defect; at the same time, I pray you to present for me, 
the strongest assurances of unalterable affection and 
gratitude, for this last pleasing and nattering attention of 
my country." 

The marquis, who had been to France since the 
close of hostilities, made his entree on the morning of 
the 18th of November; and the house, immediately on 
its meeting, came to the following resolution: " The 
house being informed of the arrival, this morning, of the 
marquis de la Fayette in this city, Resolved, nemine 
CMilradicentc, that a committee of five be appointed, to 
present to him the affectionate respects of this house, 
to signify to him their sensibility to the pleasing proof, 
given by this visit to the United States, and to this state 
in particular, that the benevolent and honourable senti- 
ments which originally prompted him to embark in the 
hazardous fortunes of America, still render the pros- 
perity of its affairs an object of his attention and regard; 
and to assure him, that they cannot review the scenes 
of blood and danger through which we have arrived at 
the blessings of peace, without being touched, in the 
most lively manner, with the recollection, not only of the 
invaluable services for which the United States at large 
are so much indebted to him, but of that conspicuous 
display of cool intrepidity and wise conduct, during his 
command in the campaign of 1781, which, by having 
so essentially served this state in particular, have given 
him so just a title to its particular acknowledgments. 



248 SKETCHES OF THE 

That, impressed as they thus are with the distinguished 
lustre of his character, they cannot form a wish more 
suitable, than that the lesson it affords may inspire all 
those whose noble minds may emulate his glory, to 
pursue it by means equally auspicious to the interests 
of humanity/' 

" And a committee was appointed of Mr. Henry, Mr. 
Madison, Mr. Jones, (of King George,) Mr. Matthews, 
and Mr. Brent/' 

To this address the marquis made the following polite 
and feeling answer: 

" Gentlemen, 

" With the most respectful thanks to your honour- 
able body, permit me to acknowledge, not only the 
nattering favour they are now pleased to confer, but 
also the constant partiality and unbounded confidence 
of this state, which, in trying times, I have so happily 
experienced. Through the continent, gentlemen, it is 
most pleasing for me to join with my friends in mutual 
congratulations; and I need not add what my sentiments 
must be in Virginia, where step by step have I so keenly 
felt for her distress, so eagerly enjoyed her recovery. 
Our armed force was obliged to retreat, but your 
patriotic hearts stood unshaken; and, while either at that 
period, or in our better hours, my obligations to you are 
numberless; I am happy in this opportunity to observe,, 
that the excellent services of your militia were conti- 
nued with unparalleled steadiness. Impressed with the 
necessity of federal union, I was the more pleased in the 
command of an army so peculiarly federal; as Virginia 
herself freely bled in defence of her sister states. 

: ' In my wishes to this commonwealth, gentlemen, I 



LIFE OF HENRY. 249 

will persevere with the same zeal, that once and for ever 
has devoted me to her. May her fertile soil rapidly 
increase her wealth — may all the waters which so 
luxuriantly flow within her limits, be happy channels of 
the most extensive trade — and may she in her wisdom, 
and the enjoyment of prosperity, continue to give the 
world unquestionable proofs of her philanthropy and her 
regard for the liberties of all mankind. 

" La Fayette." 

Time had now brought forward several new political 
characters, who had risen high in the public estimation: 
but Mr. Henry and Mr. Lee still kept their ground far 
in the van. A gentleman of great distinction, who began 
his public career in 1 783, found both these eminent 
men in the house of delegates, and heard them for 
the first time in debate: he served through the two 
sessions of that and those of the following year, and 
has communicated to me so vivid and interesting a 
comparison of their merits, as they struck his young 
and ardent mind, that I cannot consent to withhold it 
from the reader. 

" I met with Patrick Henry in the assembly in May, 
1783: I also then met with Richard H. Lee. I lodged 
with Mr. Lee one or two sessions, and was perfectly 
acquainted with him, while I was yet a stranger to Mr. 
Henry. These two gentlemen were the great leaders 
in the house of delegates, and were almost constantly 
opposed: there were many other great men who be- 
longed to that body; but, as orators, they cannot be 
named with Henry or Lee. Mr. Lee was a polished 
gentleman: he had lost the use of one of his hands, but 
his manner was perfectly graceful. His language was 
always chaste, and although somewhat too monotonous, 
' i i 



250 SKETCHES OF THE 

his speeches were always pleasing; yet he did not 
ravish your senses", nor carry away your judgment by 
storm. His was the mediate class of eloquence described 
by Rollin in his belles lettres; he was like a beautiful 
river, meandering through a flowery mead, but which 
never overflowed its banks. It was Henry who was the 
mountain torrent that swept away everything before it: 
it was he alone who thundered and lightened: he alone 
attained that sublime species of eloquence, also men- 
tioned by Rollin. 

" It has been one of the greatest pleasures of my life 
to hear these two great masters, almost constantly 
opposed to each other, for several sessions. I had no 
relish for any other speaker. Henry was almost always 
victorious. He was as much superior to Lee in temper 
as in eloquence; for while, with a modesty approaching 
almost to humility, he would apologize to the house for 
being so often " obliged to differ from the honourable 
gentleman, which he assured them was from no want of 
respect for him." Lee was frequently much chafed 
by the opposition; and I once heard him say aloud, and 
petulantly, after sustaining a great defeat, that, " if the 
votes were weighed instead of being counted, he should 
not have lost it."* 



* This hit of Mr. Lee's was thought a very happy one at the time. I have 
heard it mentioned by several others who were members of the house, and 
particularly by judge Tyler. This gentleman represented it as having 
occurred after a division and count of the house, and just as the members 
were about to return to their seats A member who was in the majority, and 
who was not very remarkable either for intellect or urbanity, said, with a 
coarse laugh, to Mr. Lee, " Well, you see you have lost it."— Upon which 
the latter, looking at him with rather a contemptuous and sneering counte- 
nance, answered, " Yes, I have lost it; but if votes were weighed instead of 
being counted, I should not have lost it." 

Was this thought original in Mr. Lee, or had he unconsciously borrowed it 
from the younger Pliny? « Sed hoc pluribus [levius] visum est. Numeraji- 



LIFE OF HENRY. 25\ 

" Mr. Henry was inferior to Mr. Lee in the grace- 
fulness of his action, and perhaps also the chasteness of 
his language; yet his language was seldom incorrect, 
and his address always striking. He had a fine blue 
eye, and an earnest manner which made it impossible 
not to attend to him. His speaking was unequal, and 
always rose with the subject and the exigency. In this 
respect he differed entirely from Mr. Lee, who was 
always equal, and therefore less interesting. At some 
times Mr. Henry would seem to hobble, (especially at 
the beginning of his speeches,) and at others, his tones 
would be almost disagreeable: yet it was by means of 
his tones, and the happy modulation of his voice, that 
his speaking had perhaps its greatest effect. He had a 
happy articulation — a clear, bold, strong voice — and 
every syllable was distinctly uttered. He was always 
very unassuming, and very respectful towards his 
adversaries; the consequence was, that no feeling of 
disgust or animosity was arrayed against him. He was 
great at a reply, and greater in proportion to the 
pressure which was bearing upon him ; and it seemed 
to me, from the frequent opportunities of observation 
afforded me during the period of which I have spoken, 
that the resources of his mind and of his eloquence 
were equal to any drafts which could possibly be made 
upon them." 

This inequality in the speeches of Mr. Henry was 

tw enim sententia, non ponderantvr: nee aliud in publico consilio potest fieri, 
in quo nihil est tarn insequale, quam sequalitas ipsa ; nam cum sit impar 
prudentia, par omnium jus est." Plin. Epist. Lib. II. Epist. XII. 

" Yet these reflections, it seems, made no impression upon the majority. 
Votes go by number, not ■weight; nor can it be otherwise in assemblies of this 
kind, where nothing' is more unequal than that equality which prevails 
in them ; for though every member has the same weight of suffrage, every 
member has not the same strength of judgment." 

Meimoth's Translation of Pliny. London, 1748 



252 SKETCHES OF THE 

imputed by some of his observers to art. He always 
spoke, they say, for victory, and wishing to carry every 
one with him, adapted the different parts of his dis- 
course to their different capacities. A critic of a higher 
order would sometimes think him trifling, when in 
truth he was making a most powerful impression on the 
weaker members of the house. By these means, it is 
said, he contrived to worm his way through the whole 
body, and to insinuate his influence into every mind. 
When he hobbled, it was like the bird that thus art- 
fully seeks to decoy away the foot of the intruder from 
the precious deposit of her brood; and at the moment 
when it would be thought that his strength was almost 
exhausted, he would spring magnificently from the earth, 
and tower above the clouds. 

He knew all the local interests and prejudices of 
every quarter of the state, and of every county in it: 
and whether these prejudices were rational or irra- 
tional, it is said that he would appeal to them without 
hesitation, and, whenever he found it necessary, enlist 
them in his cause. His address on these occasions has 
been highly admired even by those who have censured 
the course as deficient in dignity and candour. It was 
executed with so much delicacy and adroitness, and 
covered under a countenance of such apostolic solem- 
nity, that the persons on whom he was operating were 
unconscious of the design. Winding his way thus 
artfully through the house, from county to county, from 
prejudice to prejudice, with the power of moving them, 
when he pleased, from tears to laughter, from laughter 
to tears, of astonishing their imaginations, and over- 
whelming their judgments and hearts, it is easy to 
conceive how irresistible he must have been. When 
with these prodigious faculties the reader connects his 



LIFE OF HENRY. 253 

engaging deportment out of the house — the uncommon 
kindness and gentleness of his nature — the simplicity, 
frankness, and amenity of his manners — the innocent 
playfulness and instruction of his conversation — the 
integrity of his life — and the high sense of the services 
which he had rendered to the cause of liberty and his 
country — he will readily perceive, that the opinions and 
wishes of such a man would be, of themselves, almost 
decisive of any question. 

The artifice of resorting to erroneous local pre- 
judices, in a legislative debate, is certainly not to be 
commended. Truth stands in need of no such aids. 
It must be admitted that there is more purity, as well 
ajs dignity, in supporting a sound measure by sound 
arguments only; and we must be prepared to become 
Jesuits, before we can justify a resort to wrong means to 
promote even a right end. In excuse of Mr. Henry, we 
have nothing to urge except immemorial and almost uni- 
versal usage: and it is moreover highly probable, that ma- 
ny of the instances, in which he was accused of resorting 
improperly to local prejudices, were cases in which the 
questions were, from their nature, to be decided in a great 
measure by local interests. Of this description is the 
following one, now furnished, at my request, in writing 
by judge Archibald Stuart, from whom I had the 
pleasure to hear it in conversation several years ago. 

" At your request, I attempt a narrative of the 
extraordinary effects of Mr. Henry's eloquence in the 
Virginia legislature, about the year 1784, when I was 
present as a member of that body. 

" The finances of the country had been much derang- 
ed during the war, and public credit was at a low ebb; 
a party in the legislature thought it then high time to 
place the character and credit of the state on a more 



254> SKETCHES OF THE 

respectable footing, by laying taxes commensurate with 
all the public demands. With this view, a bill had been 
brought into the house, and referred to a committee of 
the whole; in support of which, the then speaker (Mr. 
Tyler,) Henry Tazewell, Mann Page, William Ronald, 
and many other members of great respectability (in- 
cluding, to the best of my recollection, Richard H. Lee, 
and perhaps Mr. Madison) took an active part. Mr. 
Henry, on the other hand, was of opinion that this was 
a premature attempt; that policy required that the 
people should have some repose, after the fatigues and 
privations to which they had been subjected during a 
long and arduous struggle for independence. 

" The advocates of the bill, in committee of the whole 
house, used their utmost efforts, and were successful 
in conforming it to their views, by such a majority 
(say thirty) as seemed to ensure its passage. When 
the committee rose, the bill was instantly reported to 
the house; when Mr. Henry, who had been excited 
and roused by his recent defeat, came forward again in 
all the majesty of his power. For some time after he 
commenced speaking, the countenances of his oppo- 
nents indicated -no apprehension of danger to their 
cause. 

" The feelings of Mr. Tyler, wfyich were sometimes 
warm, could not on that occasion be concealed, even 
in the chair. His countenance was forbidding, even 
repulsive, and his face turned from the speaker. Mr. 
Tazewell was reading a pamphlet; and Mr. Page was 
more than usually grave. After some time, however, 
it was discovered that Mr. Tyler's countenance gradu- 
ally began to relax; he would occasionally look at Mr. 
Henry; sometimes smile; his attention by degrees 
became more fixed; at length it became completely so; 



LIFE OF HENRY. 255 

he next appeared to be in good humour; he leaned 
towards Mr. Henry; appeared charmed and delighted, 
and finally lost in wonder and amazement. The progress 
of these feelings was legible in his countenance. 

" Mr. Henry drew a most affecting picture of the 
state of poverty and suffering in which the people of 
the upper counties had been left by the war. His 
delineation of their wants and wretchedness was so 
minute, so full of feeling, and with all so true, that 
he could scarcely fail to enlist on his side every 
sympathetic mind. He contrasted the severe toil by 
which they had to gain their daily subsistence, with the 
facilities enjoyed by the people of the lower counties. 
The latter, he said, residing on the salt rivers and 
creeks, could draw their supplies at pleasure, from the 
waters that flowed by their doors; and then he presented 
such a ludicrous image of the members who had 
advocated the bill, (the most of whom were from the 
lower counties,) peeping and peering along the shores 
of the creeks, to pick up their mess of crabs, or 
paddling off to the oyster rocks to rake for their daily 
bread* as filled the house with a roar of merriment. 
Mr. Tazewell laid down his pamphlet, and shook his 
sides with laughter; even the gravity of Mr. Page was 
affected; a corresponding change of countenance pre- 
vailed through the ranks of the advocates of the bill, 
and you might discover that they had surrendered their 
cause. In this they were not disappointed; for on a 
division, Mr. Henry had a majority of upwards of thirty 
against the bill." 

* At that day, (and perhaps still,) the poorer people on the salt creeks, 
lived almost exclusively on fish ; passing 1 whole days, and sometimes weeks, 
without seeing' a grain of bread. 



256 SKETCHES OF THE 

If this be a fair specimen of the cases (as probably 
it is) in which Mr. Henry was accused of appealing 
improperly to local prejudices, the censure seems unde- 
served. It is obvious that the considerations urged by 
him, on this occasion, belonged properly to the subject, 
and that the appeal to local circumstances was fairly 
made. Candour will justify us in looking, with great 
distrust, to the censures cast on this extraordinary man, 
by rivals whom he had obscured. 

On the 17th of November, 1784, Mr. Henry was 
again elected governor of Virginia, to commence his 
service from the 30th day of the same month. The 
communication made by him to the first legislature 
which met after his election, is inserted in the Appendix; 
it is given at large, as a specimen of Mr. Henry's style 
in more extended compositions than have yet been sub- 
mitted to the reader, and for the further purpose of 
showing, that the objects with which a governor of 
Virginia, acting within the pale of the constitution, is 
conversant in time of peace, are not such as to shed 
much lustre on his character, or to solicit very powerfully 
the attention of his biographer.* 

In examining the public archives of this date, there 
is a circumstance whose frequent and indeed constant 
recurrence presses itself most painfully on the attention: 
I mean the resignation of state officers, on the plea of 
a necessity to resort to some more effectual means of 
subsistence. It is not generally known, that the councils 
of Virginia were, during the period of which we are 
now speaking, enlightened and adorned by some of the 
brightest of her sons: much less is it known that they 

* See Appendix. Note B. 



LIFE OF HENRY. 257 

were driven from those councils, by that wretched 
policy which has always regulated the salaries of offi- 
cers in Virginia. The letters of resignation, during 
the years 1 784, 1 785, and 1 786, which now stand on 
the public files, afford the best comment on this policy. 
Virginia lost, during those years, the services of such 
men as have rarely existed in this or any other country; 
and such as she can never hope to see again in her 
councils, until the system of penury shall yield to that of 
liberality. At the close of the war, indeed, there was 
some apology for this penury; the country was wretch- 
edly poor and in debt. But this cause has long since 
ceased, and with it also should cease the effect. Vir- 
ginia is now rich, and may fill her offices with the flower 
of her sons: but can it be expected that men who wish 
to live free from debt, and to leave their families inde- 
pendent at their deaths, will relinquish the pursuits by 
which they are able to effect these objects, and enter 
upon a service full of care, responsibility, and anxiety; a 
service whose certain fruits (if it be their only depend- 
ence) must be a life of pecuniary embarrassment; and 
(what is still worse) their wives and children, after their 
deaths, must be cast on the charity of a cold and un- 
feeling world? Ought such a sacrifice to be expected? 
and yet must it not be the inevitable consequence of 
an exclusive dependence on the salary of any office 
in Virginia, which requires talents of the highest 
order?* 

These remarks are not foreign to our story: in the 



* How affecting is that spectacle, which we have seen of a public officer, 
who, having worn out the prime and vigour of life in the service of his coun- 
try, instead of being enabled to retire, in old age, to the repose and peace 
whichhe has so justly deserved, is compelled to toil onfor subsistence, though 
trembling, perhaps, under the weight of eighty winters, oppressed by 

Kk 



258 SKETCHES OF THE 

fall of 1 786, while yet a year remained of his consti- 
tutional term, Mr. Henry was under the necessity of 
retiring from the office of governor. There never was 
a man whose style of living was more perfectly unosten- 
tatious, temperate, and simple ; yet the salary had been 
inadequate to the support of his family; and, at the end 
of two years, he found himself involved in debts which, 
for the moment, he saw no hope of paying, but by the 
sacrifice of a part of his estate. Let it be remembered, 
that this occurred in the year 1 786; and let it be further 
remembered, that the salary was then very nearly what 
it still remains! 

In consequence of Mr. Henry's declining a re-elec- 
tiOn, the legislature proceeded to appoint his successor; 
and then, on the succeeding 25th of November, the 
house of delegates came to the following resolution: 

" Resolved, unanimously, That a committee be ap- 
pointed to wait on his excellency the governor, and 
present hiin the thanks of this house, for his wise, 
prudent, and upright administration, during his last 
appointment of chief magistrate of this commonwealth; 
assuring him that they retain a perfect sense of his 



debt, harassed by his creditors, with tile certainty before him of dying 
poor and involved; and leaving his posterity, if he have any, on the 
parish ! How forcibly does it remind us of that pathetie exclamation of 
Wolsey:— 

"O Cromwell, Cromwell, 
Had I but serv'd my God, with half the zeal 
I serv'd my king, he would not, in mine age, 
Have left me naked to mine enemies!" 



Is it in reference to the warm and generous state of Virginia, that these 
reflections can be made, and made too with truth and justice ! ! ! 



LIFE OP HENRY. 259 

abilities, in the discharge of the duties of that high and 
important office, and wish him all domestic happiness, 
on his return to private life." 

To this resolution, Mr. Corbin, one of the com- 
mittee, reported the following answer from Mr. 
Henry: — 

ff Gentlemen, 

" The house of delegates have done me distinguish- 
ed honour, by the resolution they have been pleased to 
communicate to me through you. I am happy to find 
my endeavours to discharge the duties of my station 
have met with their favourable acceptance. 

c 'The approbation of my country is the highest 
reward to which my mind is capable of aspiring, and 
I shall return to private life, highly gratified in the 
recollection of this instance of regard shown me by the 
house; having only to regret that my abilities to serve 
my country have come so short of my wishes. 

" At the same time that I make my best acknowledg- 
ments to the house for their goodness, I beg leave to 
express my particular obligations to you, gentlemen, for 
the polite manner in which this communication is made 
to me." 

On the fourth of December in the same year, Mr. 
Henry was appointed by the legislature, one of seven 
deputies from this commonwealth to meet a convention 
proposed to be held in Philadelphia, on the following 
May, for the purpose of revising the federal constitu- 
tion. On this list of deputies, his name stands next to 
that of him, who stood of right before all others in 
America; the order of appointment, as exhibited by the 



260 SKETCHES OF THE 

journal, being as follows: George Washington, Patrick 
Henry, Edmund Randolph, John Blair, James Madison, 
George Mason, and George Wythe. 

The same cause, however, which had constrained 
Mr. Henry's retirement from the executive chair of the 
state, disabled him now from obeying this honourable 
call of his country. On his resigning the government, 
he retired to Prince Edward county, and endeavoured 
to cast about for the means of extricating himself from 
his debts. At the age of fifty years, worn down by 
more than twenty years of arduous service in the cause 
of his country, eighteen of which had been occupied 
by the toils and tempests of the revolution, it was na- 
tural for him to wish for rest, and to seek some secure 
and placid port in which he might repose himself from 
the fatigues of the storm. This however was denied 
him; and after having devoted the bloom of youth and 
the maturity of manhood to the good of his country, 
he had now in his old age to provide for his family. 

" He had never" says a correspondent,* " been in 
easy circumstances; and soon after his removal to 
Prince Edward county, conversing with his usual frank- 
ness with one of his neighbours, he expressed his 
anxiety under the debts which he was not able to pay; 
the reply was to this effect: ' Go back to the bar; your 
tongue will soon pay your debts. If you will promise to 
go, I will give you a retaining fee on the spot/ 

" This blunt advice determined him to return to the 
practice of the law; which he did in the beginning of 
1788; and during six years he attended regularly the 
district courts of Prince Edward and New London." 

Direful must have been the necessity which drove a 

* Judge Winston. 



LIFE OF HENRY. 261 

man of Mr. Henry's disposition and habits, at his time 
of life, and tempest-beaten as he was, to resume the 
practice of such a profession as the law. He would 
not, however, undertake the technical duties of the 
profession; his engagements were confined to the 
argument of the cause; and his clients had, of course, 
to employ other counsel, to conduct the pleadings, and 
ripen their cases for hearing. Hence his practice was 
restricted to difficult and important cases; but his great 
reputation kept him constantly engaged: he was fre- 
quently called to distant courts: the light of his eloquence 
shone in every quarter of the state, and thousands of 
tongues were every where employed in repeating the 
fine effusions of his genius. 

The federal constitution, the fruit of the convention 
at Philadelphia, had now come forth, and produced an 
agitation which had not been felt since the return of 
peace. The friends and the enemies to its adoption 
were equally zealous and active in their exertions to 
promote their respective wishes ; the presses throughout 
the continent teemed with essays on the subject; and 
the rostrum, the pulpit, the field, and the forest, rung 
with declamations and discussions of the most animated 
character. Every assemblage of people, for whatsoever 
purpose met, either for court or church, muster or 
barbacue, presented an arena for the political com- 
batants; and in some quarters of the union, such was 
the public anxiety of the occasion, that gentlemen in 
the habit of public speaking, converted themselves into 
a sort of itinerant preachers, going from county to 
county, and from state to state, collecting the people by 
distant appointments, and challenging all adversaries 
to meet and dispute with them the propriety of the 
adoption of the federal constitution. All who sought to 



262 SKETCHES OF THE 

distinguish themselves by public speaking, all candidates 
for popular favour, and especially the junior members 
of the bar, flocked to these meetings from the remotest 
distances, and entered the lists with all the ardour and 
gallantry of the knights of former times at their tilts 
and tournaments. Never was there a theme more 
fruitful of discussion, and never was there one more 
amply or ably discussed. 

Of the convention which was to decide the fate of 
this instrument in Virginia, Mr. Henry was chosen a 
member for the county of Prince Edward. Although 
the constitution had come forth with the sanction of the 
revered name of Washington, and carried with it all 
the weight of popularity which that name could not fail 
to attach to any proposition, it had not the good fortune 
to be approved by Mr. Henry. He was (to use his own 
expression) a most awfully alarmed" at the idea of its 
adoption; for he considered it as threatening the liberties 
of his country; and he determined, therefore, to buckle 
on once more the armour which he had hung up in the 
temple of peace, and try the fortune of this, the last of 
his political fields. 



LIFE OF HENRY. 



SECTION VIII. 

The convention met in Richmond on the 2d of June, 
1 788, and exhibited such an array of variegated talents, 
as had never been collected before within the limits of 
the state, and such an one as it may well be feared we 
shall never see again. A few of the most eminent of 
these statesmen are still alive; of whom, therefore, 
delicacy forbids us to speak as they deserve. Their 
powers, however, and the peculiar characters of their 
intellectual excellence, are so well known, that their 
names will be sufficient to speak their respective 
eulogies. We may mention, therefore, Mr. Madison, 
the late president of the United States; Mr. Marshall, 
the chief justice; and Mr. Monroe, now the president. 
What will the reader think of a body, in which men 
like these were only among their equals! Yet such is 
the fact; for there were those sages of other days, 
Pendleton and Wythe; there was seen displayed the 
Spartan vigour and compactness of George Nicholas; 
and there shone the radiant genius and sensibility of 
Grayson; the Roman energy and the Attic wit of 
George Mason was there; and there, also, the classic 
taste and harmony of Edmund Randolph; " the splendid 
conflagration" of the high minded Innis; and the 
matchless eloquence of the immortal Henry!* 



* The debates and proceedings of this convention, by Mr. David Robert- 
son of Petersburg, have passed through two editions ; yet it is believed, that 
their circulation has been principally confined to Virginia ; and even in this 
state, from the rapid progress of our population, that book is supposed to be 
in, comparatively, few hands. Hence it has been thought proper to give a 



.-.KETCHES OF THE 

,itil the 4th, that the preliminary arrange- 
flie discussion were settled. Mr. Pendleton 
a unanimously elected the president of the 
invention; but it having been determined that the 
subject should be debated in committee of the whole, 
the house on that day resolved itself into committee, 
and the venerable Mr. Wythe was called to the chair. 
In conformity with the order which had been taken, to 
discuss the constitution, clause by clause, the clerk now 
read the preamble and the two first sections; and the 
debate was opened by Mr. George Nicholas. He con- 
fined himself strictly to the sections under consideration, 
and maintained their policy with great cogency of 
argument. Mr. Henry rose next, and soon demonstrated 
that his excursions were not to be restrained by the 
rigour of rules. Instead of proceeding to answer 
Mr. Nicholas, he commenced by sounding an alarm 
calculated to produce a most powerful impression. The 
effect, however, will be entirely lost upon the reader, 
unless he shall associate with the speech, which I am 
about to lay before him, that awful solemnity and look 
of fearful portent, by which Mr. Henry could imply 



short sketch of Mr. Henry's course in this body. It ought to be premised, 
however, that the published debates have been said, by those who attended 
the convention, to present but an imperfect view of the discussions of that 
body. In relation to Mr. Heniy, they are confessedly imperfect ; the reporter 
having sometimes dropped him in those passages, in which the reader 
would be most anxious to follow him. From the skill and ability of the 
reporter, there can be no doubt that the substance of the debates, as well 
as their general course, are accurately preserved. The work is, therefore, 
a valuable repository of the arguments by which the constitution was opposed 
on one hand, and supported on the other; but it must have been utterly 
impossible for a man, who possesses the sensibility and high relish for 
eloquence which distinguish the reporter, not to have been so far transported 
by the excursions of Mr. Henry's genius, as sometimes, unconsciously, to 
have laid down his pen. 



LIFE OF HENRY. 265 

even more than he expressed; and that slow, distinct 
emphatic enunciation, by which he never failed to move 
the souls of his hearers. 

" Mr. Chairman — The public mind, as well as my 
own, is extremely uneasy at the proposed change of 
government. Give me leave to form one of the number 
of those who wish to be thoroughly acquainted with 
the reasons of this perilous and uneasy situation — and 
why we are brought hither to decide on this great 
national question. I consider myself as the servant of 
the people of this commonwealth — as a sentinel over 
their rights, liberty, and happiness. I represent their 
feelings when I say, that they are exceedingly uneasy, 
being brought from that state of full security which 
they enjoyed, to the present delusive appearance of 
things. A year ago, the minds of our citizens were at 
perfect repose. Before the meeting of the late federal 
convention at Philadelphia, a general peace and an 
universal tranquillity prevailed in this country — but 
since that period, they are exceedingly uneasy and dis- 
quieted. When I wished for an appointment to this 
convention, my mind was extremely agitated for the 
situation of public affairs. I conceive the republic to 
be in extreme danger. If our situation be thus uneasy, 
whence has arisen this fearful jeopardy? It arises from 
this fatal system — it arises from a proposal to change 
our government — a proposal that goes to the utter anni- 
hilation of the most solemn engagements of the states — 
a proposal of establishing nine states into a confederacy, 
to the eventual exclusion of four states. It goes to the 
annihilation of those solemn treaties we have formed 
with foreign nations. The present circumstances of 
France — the good offices rendered us by that kingdom, 

l1 



2S6 Sketches of the 

require our most faithful and most punctual adherence 
to our treaty with her. We are in alliance with the 
Spaniards, the Dutch, the Prussians: those treaties 
bound us as thirteen states, confederated together. Yet 
here is a proposal to sever that confederacy. Is it pos- 
sible that we shall abandon all our treaties and national 
engagements? And for what? I expected to have 
heard the reasons of an event, so unexpected to my 
mind and many others. Was our civil polity or public 
justice endangered or sappod? Was the real existence 
of the country threatened — or was this preceded by a 
mournful progression of events? This proposal of alter- 
ing our federal government is of a most alarming nature: 
make the best of this new government — say it is com- 
posed by any thing but inspiration — you ought to be 
extremely cautious, watchful, jealous of your liberty; 
for instead of securing our rights, you may lose them 
for ever. If a wrong step be now made, the republic 
may be lost for ever. If this new government will not 
come up to the expectation of the people, and they 
should be disappointed, their liberty will be lost, and 
tyranny must and will arise. I repeat it again, and I 
beg gentlemen to consider, that a wrong step made 
now will plunge us into misery, and our republic will be 
lost. It will be necessary for this convention to have a 
faithful historical detail of the facts that preceded the 
session of the federal convention, and the reasons that 
actuated its members in proposing an entire alteration 
of government, and to demonstrate the dangers that 
awaited us: if they were of such awful magnitude, as 
to warrant a proposal so extremely perilous as this, I 
must assert, that this convention has an absolute right to 
a thorough discovery of every circumstance relative to 
this great event. And here I would make this enquiry 



LIFE OF HENRY. 261 

of those worthy characters who composed a part of 
the late federal convention. I am sure they were fully 
impressed with the necessity of forming a great conso- 
lidated government, instead of a confederation. That 
this is a consolidated government is demonstrably clear; 
and the danger of such a government is to my mind 
very striking. I have the highest veneration for those 
gentlemen; but, sir, give me leave to demand, what 
^ight had they to say, we, the people? My political 
curiosity, exclusive of my anxious solicitude for the public 
welfare, leads me to ask, who authorized them to speak 
the language of, we, the people, instead of, we, the states? J 
States are the characteristics, and the soul of a confe- 
deration. If the states be not the agents of this com- 
pact, it must be one great, consolidated, national, govern- • 
ment of the people of all the states. I have the highest 
respect for those gentlemen who formed the convention; 
and were some of them not here, I would express some 
testimonial of esteem for them. America had, on a 
former occasion, put the utmost confidence in them; a 
confidence which was well placed; and I am sure, sir, 
I would give up any thing to them; I would cheerfully 
confide in them as my representatives. But, sir, on 
this great occasion, I would demand the cause of their 
conduct. Even from that illustrious man, who saved us 
by his valour, I would have a reason for his conduct — 
that liberty which he has given us by his valour, tells me 
to ask this reason — and sure I am, were he here, he 
would give us that reason: but there are other gentle- 
men here who can give us this information. The peo- 
ple gave them no power to use their name. That they 
exceeded their power is perfectly clear. It is not mere 
curiosity that actuates me — I wish to hear the real, 
actual, existing danger, which should lead us to take 



268 SKETCHES OP THE 

those steps so dangerous in my conception. Disorders 
have arisen in other parts of America; but here, sir, 
no dangers, no insurrection, or tumult, has happened — 
every thing has been calm and tranquil. But, notwith- 
standing this, we are wandering on the great ocean of 
human affairs. I see no landmark to guide us. We 
are running we know not whither. Difference in opinion 
has gone to a degree of inflammatory resentment, in 
different parts of the country, which has been occa- 
sioned by this perilous innovation. The federal con- 
vention ought to have amended the old system — for this 
purpose they were solely delegated: the object of their 
mission extended to no other consideration. You must 
therefore forgive the solicitation of one unworthy mem- 
ber, to know what danger could have arisen under the 
present confederation, and what are the causes of this 
proposal to change our government?" 

This enquiry was answered by an eloquent speech 
from Mr. Randolph; and the debate passed into other 
hands; until on the next day, general Lee, in reference 
to Mr. Henry's opening speech, addressed the chair as 
follows: 

" Mr. Chairman — I feel every power of my mind 
moved by the language of the honourable gentleman, 
yesterday. The eclat and brilliancy which have distin- 
guished that gentleman, the honours with which he has 
been dignified, and the brilliant talents which he has so 
often displayed, have attracted my respect and attention. 
On so important an occasion, and before so respectable a 
body, I expected a new display of his powers of oratory: 
but instead of proceeding to investigate the merits of 
the new plan of government, the ivorthy character in- 



LIFE OF HENRY. 269 

formed us of horrors which he felt, of apprehensions in 
his mind, which made him tremblingly fearful of the 
fate oftJie commonwealth. Mr. Chairman, was it pro- 
per to appeal to the fear of this house? The question 
before us belongs to the judgment of this house; I trust 
he is come to judge and not to alarm. I trust that he, 
and every other gentleman in this house, comes with a 
firm resolution, coolly and calmly to examine, and fairly 
and impartially to determine." 

In the further progress of his speech, general Lee 
again said, rather tauntingly, of Mr. Henry — " The 
gentleman sat down as he began, leaving us to ruminate 
on the hoirors with which he opened." 

Mr. Henry rising immediately after these sarcastic 
remarks, gave a striking specimen of that dignified self- 
command, and that strict and uniform decorum, by which 
he was so pre-eminently distinguished in debate. Far 
from retorting the sarcasms of his adversary, he seemed 
to have heard nothing but the compliments with which 
they stood connected, and rising slowly from his seat, 
with a countenance expressive of unaffected humility, 
he began with the following modest and disqualifying 
exordium: " Mr. Chairman — I am much obliged to 
the very worthy gentleman for his encomium. I wish 
I was possessed of talents, or possessed of any thing, 
that might enable me to elucidate this great subject. 
I own, sir, I am not free from suspicion. I am apt to 
entertain doubts. I rose on yesterday, not to enter 
upon the discussion, but merely to ask a question which 
had arisen in my own mind. When I asked that ques- 
tion, I thought the meaning of my interrogation was 
obvious. The fate of America may depend on this 
question. Have they said, we, the states? Have they 



/ 



^70 SKETCHES OF THE 

made a proposal of a compact between states? If they 
had, this would be a confederation; it is, otherwise, 
most clearly a consolidated government. The whole 
Question turns, sir, on that poor little thing, the ex- 
pression, we, the people, instead of, the states of 
America." 

He then proceeded to set forth in terrible array his 
various objections to the constitution; not confining 
himself to the clauses under debate, but ranging through 
the whole instrument, and passing from objection to 
objection, as they followed each other in his mind. 
This departure from the rule of the house, although at 
first view censurable, was insisted upon by himself and 
his colleagues, as being indispensable to a just exami- 
nation of the particular clause under consideration; 
because the policy or impolicy of any provision did not 
always depend upon itself alone, but on other provisions 
with which it stood connected, and, indeed, upon the 
whole system of powers and checks that were associated 
with it in the same instrument, and thus formed only 
parts of one entire whole. The truth of this position, 
in relation to some of the provisions, could not be justly 
denied; and a departure once made from the rigour of 
the rule, the debate became at large, on every part of 
the constitution; the disputants at every stage looking 
forward and backward throughout the whole instru- 
ment, without any control other than their own dis- 
cretion. Thus freed from restraints, under which his 
genius was at all times impatient, uncoupled and let 
loose to range the whole field at pleasure, Mr. Henry 
seemed to have recovered, and to luxuriate in all the 
powers of his youth. He had, indeed, occasion for them 
all; for while he was supported by only three effective 



LIFE OF HENRY. ^71 

auxiliaries, opposed to him stood a phalanx, most formi- 
dable both for talents and weight of character; and of 
several of whom it might be said, with truth, that each 
was " in himself a 1iost;" for at the head of the opposing 
ranks stood Mr. Pendleton — Mr. Wythe — Mr. Madison 
—Mr. Marshall— Mr. Nicholas— Mr. Randolph— Mr. 
Innis — Mr. Henry Lee — and Mr. Corbin. Fearful 
odds! and such as called upon him for the most strenuous 
exertion of all his faculties. Nor did he sink below 
the occasion. For twenty days, during which this 
great discussion continued without intermission, his 
efforts were sustained, not only with undiminished 
strength, but with powers which seemed to gather new 
force from every exertion. All the faculties useful 
for debate were found united in him, with a degree of 
perfection, in which they are rarely seen to exist, even 
separately, in different individuals: irony, ridicule, the 
purest wit, the most comic humour, exclamations that 
made the soul start, the most affecting pathos, and the 
most sublime apostrophes, lent their aid to enforce his 
reasoning, and to put to flight the arguments of his 
adversaries. 

The objection that the constitution substituted a con- 
solidated in lieu of a confederated government, and 
that this new consolidated government threatened the 
total annihilation of the state sovereignties, was pressed 
by him with most masterly power: he said there was no 
necessity for a change of government so entire and 
fundamental — and no inducement to it, unless it was to 
be found in this splendid government, which we were 
told was to make us a great and mighty people. " We 
have no detail," said he, " of those great considerations, 
which, in my opinion, ought to have abounded, before 
we should recur to a government of this kind. Here 



212 SKETCHES OF THE 

is a revolution as radical as that which separated us 
from Great Britain. It is as radical, if in this transi- 
tion our rights and privileges are endangered, and the 
sovereignty of the states be relinquished: and cannot 
we plainly see, that this is actually the case? The 
rights of conscience, trial by jury, liberty of the press, 
all your immunities and franchises, all pretensions to 
human rights and privileges, are rendered insecure, if 
not lost, by this change so loudly talked of by some, 
and so inconsiderately by others. Is this tame relin- 
quishment of rights worthy of freemen? Is it worthy 
of that manly fortitude that ought to characterize repub- 
licans? It is said eight states have adopted this plan: I 
declare, that if twelve states and an half had adopted 
it, I would with manly firmness, and in spite of an 
erring world, reject it. You are not to enquire how 
your trade may be increased, nor how you are to be- 
come a great and powerful people, but how your liberties 
can be secured; for liberty ought to be the direct end 
of your government. Is it necessary for your liberty, 
that you should abandon those great rights by the adop- 
tion of this system ? Is the relinquishment of the trial 
by jury, and the liberty of the press, necessary for your 
liberty? Will the abandonment of your most sacred 
rights tend to the security of your liberty? Liberty, 
the greatest of all earthly blessings — give us that pre- 
cious jeivel, and you may take every thing else! But I 
am fearful I have lived long enough to become an old 
fashioned fellow. Perhaps an invincible attachment to 
the dearest rights of man, may, in these refined, enlight- 
ened days, be deemed old fashioned: if so, I am con- 
tented to be so: I say, the time has been, when every 
pulse of my heart beat for American liberty, and 
which, I believe, had a counterpart in the breast of 



LIFE OF HENRY. 273 

every true American; but suspicions have gone forth — 
suspicions of my integrity — publicly reported that my 
professions are not real — twenty-three years ago was I 
supposed a traitor to my country: I was then said to be 
a bane of sedition, because I supported the rights of 
my country: I may be thought suspicious, when I say 
our privileges and rights are in danger: but, sir, a num- 
ber of the people of this country are weak enough to 
think these things are too true. I am happy to find, 
that the gentleman on the other side declares they are 
groundless: but, sir, suspicion is a virtue, as long as its 
object is the preservation of the public good, and as 
long as it stays within proper bounds: should it fall on 
me, I am contented: conscious rectitude is a powerful 
consolation: I trust there are many who think my 
professions for the public good to be real. Let your 
suspicion look to both sides: there are many on the 
other side, who possibly may have been persuaded of 
the necessity of these measures, which I conceive to 
be dangerous to your liberty. Guard with jealous at- 
tention the public liberty. Suspect every one who 
approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will 
preserve it but downright force: whenever you give up 
that force, you are inevitably ruined. I am answered 
by gentlemen, that though I might speak of terrors, yet 
the fact was, that we were surrounded by none of the 
dangers I apprehended. I conceive this new govern- 
ment to be one of those dangers: it has produced those 
horrors, which distress many of our best citizens. We 
are come hither to preserve the poor commonwealth of 
Virginia, if it can be possibly done: something must be 
done to preserve your liberty and mine. The confede- 
ration, this same despised government, merits, in my 
opinion, the highest encomium: it carried us through n 

Mm 



274 SKETCHES OP THE 

long and dangerous war: it rendered us victorious in 
that bloody conflict with a powerful nation: it has 
secured us a territory greater than any European mo- 
narch possesses: and shall a government which has been 
thus strong and vigorous, be accused of imbecility, and 
abandoned for want of energy? Consider what you 
are about to do, before you part with this government. 
Take longer time in reckoning things; revolutions like 
this have happened in almost every country in Europe: 
similar examples are to be found in ancient Greece and 
ancient Rome: instances of the people losing their 
liberty by their own carelessness and the ambition of a 
few. We are cautioned, by the honourable gentleman 
who presides, against faction and turbulence: I acknow- 
ledge that licentiousness is dangerous, and that it ought 
to be provided against: I acknowledge, also, the new 
form of government may effectually prevent it: yet there 
is another thing it will as effectually do — it will oppress 
and ruin the people. There are sufficient guards placed 
against faction and licentiousness : for when power is 
given to this government to suppress these, or for any 
other purpose, the language it assumes is clear, express, 
and unequivocal: but when this constitution speaks of 
privileges, there is an ambiguity, sir, a fatal ambiguity, 
an ambiguity which is very astonishing!" 

The adoption of the instrument had been maintained 
upon the ground that it would increase our military 
strength, and enable us to resist the lawless ambition 
of foreign princes: — it had been urged, too, that if the 
convention should rise without adopting the instrument, 
disunion and anarchy would be the certain consequences. 
In answer to these topics he said — " Happy will you be, 
if you miss the fate of those nations, who, omitting to 
resist their oppressors, or negligently suffering their 



LIFE OF HENRY. 215 

liberty to be wrested from them, have groaned under 
intolerable despotism! Most of the human race are 
now in this deplorable condition. And those nations 
who have gone in search of grandeur, power, and 
splendour, have also fallen a sacrifice, and been the 
victims of their own folly. While they acquired those 
visionary blessings, they lost their freedom. My great 
objection to this government is, that it does not leave 
us the means of defending our rights, or of waging 
war against tyrants. It is urged by some gentlemen, 
that this new plan will bring us an acquisition of 
strength, an army, and the militia of the states. This 
is an idea extremely ridiculous: gentlemen cannot be 
in earnest. This acquisition will trample on your fallen 
liberty! Let my beloved Americans guard against that 
fatal lethargy that has pervaded the universe. Have 
we the means of resisting disciplined armies, when our 
only defence, the militia, is put into the hands of con- 
gress? The honourable gentleman said, that great 
danger would ensue, if the convention rose without 
adopting this system. I ask, where is that danger? I 
see none. Other gentlemen have told us within these 
walls, that the union is gone — or, that the union will be 
gone. Is not this trifling with the judgment of their 
fellow-citizens? Till they tell us the ground of their 
fears, I will consider them as imaginary. I rose to make 
enquiry where those dangers were; they could make no 
answer: I believe I never shall have that answer. Is 
there a disposition in the people of this country to re- 
volt against the dominion of laws? Has there been 
a single tumult in Virginia? Have not the people of 
Virginia, when labouring under the severest pressure 
of accumulated distresses, manifested the most cordial 
acquiescence in the execution of the laws? What could. 



,276 SKETCHES OF THE 

be more awful than their unanimous acquiescence 
under general distresses? Is there any revolution in Vir- 
ginia? Whither is the spirit of America gone? Whither 
is the genius of America fled? It was but yesterday 
when our enemies marched in triumph through our 
country. Yet the people of this country could not be 
appalled by their pompous armaments: they stopped 
their career, and victoriously captured tliem! Where 
is the peril now compared to that? Some minds are 
agitated by foreign alarms. Happily for us., there is no 
real danger from Europe: that country is engaged in 
more arduous business: from that quarter there is no 
cause of fear: you may sleep in safety for ever for them. 
Where is the danger? If, sir, there was any, I would 
recur to the American spirit to defend us — that spirit 
which has enabled us to surmount the greatest difficul- 
ties: to that illustrious spirit I address my most fervent 
prayer, to prevent our adopting a system destructive to 
liberty. Let not gentlemen be told that it is not safe to 
reject this government. Wherefore is it not safe? We 
are told there are dangers; but those dangers are ideal; 
they cannot be demonstrated. To encourage us to 
adopt it, they tell us that there is a plain easy way of 
getting amendments. When I come to contemplate 
this part, I suppose that I am mad, or, that my country- 
men are so. The way to amendment is, in my con- 
ception, shut. Let us consider this plain, easy way." 

He then proceeds to demonstrate, that as the consti- 
tution required the concurrence of three-fourths of the 
states to any amendment, it followed that six-tenths of 
the people, in four of the smallest states, (not containing 
collectively one-tenth part of the population of the 
United States) would have it in their power to defeat 



LIFE OF HENRY. 277 

the most salutary amendments; and then asks, " Is this, 
sir, an easy mode of securing the public liberty? It is, 
sir, a most fearful situation, when the most contemptible 
minority can prevent the alteration of the most oppressive 
government: for it may, in many respects, prove to be 
such. Is this the spirit of republicanism? What, sir, 
is the genius of democracy? Let me read that clause 
of the bill of rights of Virginia, which relates to this: 
3d Art. e That government is, or ought to be, instituted 
for the common benefit, protection, and security of the 
people, nation, or community; of all the various modes 
and forms of government, that is best which is capable 
of producing the greatest degree of happiness and 
safety, and is most effectually secured against the 
danger of mal-administration ; and that whenever any 
government shall be found inadequate, or contrary to 
these purposes, a majority of the community hath an 
indubitable, unalienable, and indefeasible right to reform, 
alter, or abolish it, in such manner as shall be judged 
most conducive to the public weal/ This, sir, is the 
language of democracy, that a majority of the community 
have a right to alter their government when found to 
be oppressive; but how different is the genius of your 
new constitution from this? How different from the 
sentiments of freemen, that a contemptible minority can 
prevent the good of the majority? If, then, gentlemen 
standing on this ground, are come to that point, that 
they are willing to bind themselves and their posterity 
to be oppressed, / am amazed, and inexpressibly 
astonished! If this be the opinion of the majority, I 
must submit; but to me, sir, it appears perilous and 
destructive; I cannot help thinking so; perhaps it may 
be the result of my age; these may be feelings natural 
to a man of my years, when the American spirit has 



278 SKETCHES OF THE 

left him, and his mental powers, like the members of 
the body, are decayed. If, sir, amendments are left to 
the twentieth, or to the tenth part of the people of 
America, your liberty is gone for ever. We have 
heard that there is a great deal of bribery practised 
in the house of commons in England; and that many 
of the members raised themselves to preferments by 
selling the rights of the people. But, sir, the tenth 
part of that body cannot continue oppressions on the 
rest of the people. English liberty is, in this case, 
on a firmer foundation than American liberty. It 
will be easily contrived to procure the opposition of 
one-tenth of the people to any alteration, however 
judicious." 

Mr. Pendleton had repelled the idea of danger from 
the adoption of the constitution, on the ground of the 
facility with which the people could recall their 
delegated powers, and change their servants. — "We 
will assemble in convention/' said Mr. Pendleton, 
" wholly recall our delegated powers, or reform them so 
as to prevent such abuse, and punish our servants/ 1 
In reply to this, Mr. Henry said — " The honourable 
gentleman who presides told us, that, to prevent abuses 
in our government, we will assemble in convention, recall 
our delegated powers, and punish our servants for 
abusing the trust reposed in them. Oh, sir, ice should 
have fine times indeed, if to punish tyrants, it icere only 
necessary to assemble the people! Your arms, wherewith 
you could defend yourselves, are gone! and you have no 
longer an aristocratical, no longer a democratical spirit. 
Did you ever read of any revolution in any nation, 
brought about by the punishment of those in power, 
inflicted by those who had no power at all? You read 



LIFE OF HENRY. 279 

of a riot act in a country which is called one of the 
freest in the world, where a few neighbours cannot 
assemble, without the risk of being shot by a hired 
soldiery, the engines of despotism. We may see such 
an act in America. A standing army we shall Jiave, 
also, to execute the execrable commands of tyranny; 
and how are you to punish them? Will you order them 
to be punished? Who shall obey these orders? Will 
your mace-bearer be a match for a disciplined regiment? 
In what situation are we to be? The clause before 
you gives a power of direct taxation, unbounded and 
unlimited; exclusive power of legislation, in all cases 
whatsoever, for ten miles square; and over all places 
purchased for the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, 
dock yards, fyc. What resistance coidd be made? The 
attempt would be madness. You will find all the 
strength of this country in the hands of your enemies; 
those garrisons will naturally be the strongest places 
in the country. Your militia is given up to congress, 
also, in another part of this plan; they will, therefore, 
act as they think proper; all power will be in their own 
possession; you cannot force them to receive their 
punishment." 

He continued to ridicule very successfully the 
alluring idea of the expected splendour of the new 
government, and the imaginary checks and balances 
which were said to exist in this constitution: " If we 
admit/' said he, " this consolidated government, it will 
be because we like a great splendid one. Some way or 
other ive must be a great and mighty empire; we must 
have an army, and a navy, and a number of things! 
When the American spirit was in its youth, the language 
of America was different: liberty, sir, was then the 



280 SKETCHES OF THE 

primary object." And again: " This constitution is said 
to have beautiful features; but when I come to examine 
these features, sir, they appear to me horridly frightful! 
among other deformities, it has an awful squinting; 
it squints towards monarchy! And does not this raise 
indignation in the heart of every true American? Your 
president may easily become king; your senate is so 
imperfectly constructed, that your dearest rights may be 
sacrificed by what may be a small minority; and a very 
small minority may continue, for ever, unchangeable, 
this government, although horridly defective; where 
are your checks in this government? Your strong 
holds will be in the hands of your enemies; it is on 
a supposition that your American governors shall be 
honest, that all the good qualities of this government are 
founded; but its defective and imperfect construction 
puts it in their power to perpetrate the worst of 
mischiefs, should they be bad men; and, sir, would not all 
the world, from the eastern to the western hemisphere, 
blame our distracted folly in resting our rights upon the 
contingency of our rulers being good or bad? Show me 
that age and country, where the rights and liberties 
of the people were placed on the sole chance, of their 
rulers being good men, without a consequent loss of 
liberty? I say, that the loss of that dearest privilege 
has ever followed, with absolute certainty, every such 
mad attempt. If your American chief be a man of 
ambition and abilities, how easy is it for him to render 
himself absolute! The army is in his hands; and, 
if he be a man of address, it will be attacJied to him; 
and it will be the subject of long 7neditation with him 
to seize the first auspicious moment to accomplish his 
design; and, sir, will tlie American spirit, solely, relieve 
you wh£n this happens? I would rather infinitely, and 



LIFE OF HENRY. 281 

I am sure most of this convention are of the same 
opinion, have a king, lords, and commons, than a go- 
vernment so replete with such insupportable evils. If 
we make a king, we may prescribe the rules by which 
he shall rule his people, and interpose such checks as 
shall prevent him from infringing them: but the presi- 
dent in tiie field, at the head of his army, can prescribe 
the terms on which he shall reign master, so far that it 
ivill puzzle any American ever to get his neck from 
under the galling yoke. I cannot, with patience, think 
of this idea. If ever he violates the laws, one of two 
things will happen: he will come at the head of his 
army to carry every thing before him ; or he will give 
bail, or do what Mr. Chief Justice will order him. If 
he be guilty, will not the recollection of his crimes 
teach him to make one bold push for the American 
throne? Will not the immense difference between 
being master of every thing, and being ignominiously 
tried and punished, powerfully excite him to make this 
bold push? But, sir, where is the existing force to 
punish him? Can he not, at the head of his army, beat 
down every opposition? Away with your president ; we 
shall have a king: the army uill salute him monarch; 
your militia will leave you, and assist in making him 
king, and fight against you: and what have you to 
oppose this force? What will then become of you and 
your rights? Will not absolute despotism ensue?" 
[Here Mr. Henry strongly and pathetically expatiated 
on the probability of the president's enslaving America, 
and the horrid consequences that must remit.] 

After the frank admission of the reporter, exhibited 
by the words contained within those brackets, that he 
had not attempted to follow Mr. Henry in this pathetic 
excursion, the reader will perceive, that it would be 

n n 



28-2 SKETCHES OF THE 

doing injustice to the memory of that eminent man, to 
multiply extracts from this book, as specimens of his 
eloquence. The stenographer who should be able to 
take down Mr. Henry's speeches, word for word, must 
have other qualities beside the perfect mastery of his 
art: he must have the perfect mastery of himself, and 
be able, for the moment, to play the mere automaton: 
for without such self-command, no man, who had a 
human heart in his bosom, could listen to his startling 
exclamations, or horror-breathing tones, without keep- 
ing his eyes immoveably rivetted upon the speaker. His 
dominion over his hearers was so absolute, that it was 
idle to think of resisting him ; you would as soon think 
of resisting the lightning of heaven. The very tone of 
voice, in which he would address the chairman, when 
he felt the inspiration of his genius rising — " Mr. 
Chairman!" — and the awful pause which followed this 
call — fixed upon him at once every eye in the assem- 
bly: and then his own rapt countenance! — those eyes 
which seemed to beam with light from another world, 
and under whose fiery glance the crest of the proudest 
adversary fell! his majestic attitudes, and that bold, 
strong, and varied action, which spoke forth, with so 
much power, the energies of his own great spirit, ren- 
dered his person a spectacle so sublime and so awfully 
interesting, that to look in any other direction when the 
spell was upon him, was not to be expected from any 
man who had eyes to see and ears to hear. Little 
cause have we therefore to wonder or to complain, that 
a gentleman of Mr. Robertson's lively admiration of 
genius, and of his quick and kindling sensibility, was 
sometimes bedimmed by his own tears, and at others 
torn from his task by those master flights, which rushed 



LIFE OF HENRY. 283 

like a mighty whirlwind from the earth, and carried up 
every thing in their vortex. 

The chief objections taken to the constitution are 
reducible to the following heads. 

I. That it was a consolidated, instead of a confede- 
rated government: that in making it so, the delegates 
at Philadelphia had transcended the limits of their com- 
mission: changed fundamentally the relations which the 
states had chosen to bear to each other: annihilated 
their respective sovereignties: destroyed the barriers 
which divided them: and converted the whole into one 
solid empire. To this leading objection almost all the 
rest had reference, and were urged principally with the 
view to illustrate and enforce it. 

II. The vast and alarming array of specific powers 
given to the general government, and the wide door 
opened for an unlimited extension of those powers, by 
the clause which authorized congress to pass all laws 
'necessary to cairy the given poivers into effect. It was 
urged, that this clause rendered the previous specifi- 
cation of powers an idle illusion ; since, by the force of 
construction arising from that clause, congress might 
easily do any thing and every thing it chose, under the 
pretence of giving effect to some specified power. 

III. The unlimited power of taxation of all kinds: 
the states were no longer to be required, in their 
federative characters, to contribute their respective pro- 
portions towards the expenses and engagements of the 
general government: but congress were authorized to 
go directly to the pockets of the people, and sweep from 
them, en masse, from north to south, whatever portion of 
the earnings of the industrious poor the rapacity of the 
general government, or their schemes of ambitious gran- 
deur, might suggest. It was contended that such a power 



284 SKETCHES OF THE 

could not be exercised, without just complaint, over 
a country so extensive, and so diversified in its pro- 
ductions and the pursuits of its people: that it was 
impossible to select any subject of general taxation which 
would not operate unequally on the different sections 
of the union, produce discontent and heart Jburnings 
among the people, and most probably terminate in open 
resistance to the laws: that the representatives in 
congress were too few to carry with them a knowledge 
of the wants and capacities of the people hi the different 
parts of a large state, and that the representation could 
not be made full enough to attain that object, without 
becoming oppressively expensive to the country: that 
hence taxation ought to be left to the states themselves, 
whose representation was full, who best knew the habits 
and circumstances of their constituents, and on what sub- 
jects a tax could be most conveniently laid. Mr. Henry 
said that he was willing to grant this power conditionally ; 
that is, upon the failure of the states to comply with 
requisitions from congress: but that the absolute 
and unconditional grant of it, in the first instance, 
filled his mind with the most awful anticipations. It 
was resolved, he saw clearly, that we must be a great and 
splendid people; and that in order to be so, immense 
revenues must be raised from the people: the people 
were to be bowed down under the load of their taxes, 
direct and indirect; and a swarm of federal tax gatherers 
were to cover this land, to blight every blade of grass, 
and every leaf of vegetation, and consume its produc- 
tions for the enrichment of themselves and their mas- 
ters: it was not contended, he supposed, but that the 
state legislature, also, might impose taxes for their own 
internal purposes: thus the people were to be doubly 
oppressed, and between the state sheriffs and the federal 



LIFE OF HENRY. 285 

sheriffs to be ground to dust: on this subject he drew 
such a vivid and affecting picture of these officers, en- 
tering in succession the cabin of the broken-hearted 
peasant, and the last one rifling the poor remains which 
the first had left, as is said to have drawn tears from 
every eye. 

IV. The power of raising armies and building navies, 
and still more emphatically, the control given to the 
general government over the militia of the states, was 
most strenuously opposed. The power thus given was a 
part of the means of that aggrandizement which was 
obviously meditated, and there could be no doubt that 
it would be exercised: so that this republic, whose best 
policy was peace, was to be saddled with the expense 
of maintaining standing armies and navies, useless for 
any other purpose than to insult her citizens, to afford a 
pretext for increased taxes, and an augmented public 
debt, and finally to subvert the liberties of her people: 
her militia too, her last remaining defence, was gone. 
" Congress," said Mr Henry, " by the power of taxation 
— by that of raising an army and navy — and by their 
control over the militia — have the sword in the one hand, 
and the purse in the other. Shall we be safe without 
either? Congress have an unlimited power over both; 
they are entirely given up by us. Let him (Mr. Madi- 
son) candidly tell me, where and when did freedom 
exist, when the sword and purse were given up from 
the people? Unless a miracle in human affairs shall 
interpose, no nation ever did or ever can retain its 
liberty, after the loss of the sword and the purse." 

The unlimited control over the militia was vehe- 
mently opposed, on the ground, that the marching militia 
from distant states to quell insurrection, and repel in- 
vasions, and keeping the free yeomanry of the country 



286 SKETCHES OF THE 

under the lash of martial law, would, in the first in- 
stance, produce an effect extremely inimical to the 
peace and harmony of the union; and in the next, 
harass the agricultural body of the people so much, as 
to reconcile them, as a less evil, to that curse of nations, 
and bane of freedom, a standing army: — and secondly, 
this power was opposed, on the ground, that congress, 
under the boundless charter of constructive power 
which it possessed, might transfer to the president the 
power of calling forth the militia, and thus enable him 
to disarm all opposition to his schemes. 

V. The several clauses providing for the federal 
judiciary were objected to, on the ground of the clash- 
ing jurisdictions of the state and federal courts; and 
secondly, because infinite power was given to congress 
to multiply inferior federal courts at pleasure; a power 
which they would not fail to exercise, in order to swell 
the patronage of the president, to tlwir own emolument; 
and thus enable him to reward their devotion to his 
views, by bestowing on them and their dependents 
those offices which they had themselves created. 

VI. It was contended that the trial by jury was gone 
in civil cases, by that clause which gives to the supreme 
court appellate power over the law and the fact in every 
case ; and which thereby enabled that tribunal to anni- 
hilate both the verdict and judgment of the inferior 
courts: and that in criminal cases also, the trial by jury 
was worse than gone, because it was admitted, that the 
common law, which alone gave the challenge for favour, 
would not be in force as to the federal courts; and 
hence a jury might, in every instance, be packed to 
suit the purpose of the prosecution. 

VII. The authority of the president to take the 
command of the armies of the United States, in person, 



LIFE OF HENRY. 287 

was warmly resisted, on the ground, that if he were a 
military character, and a man of address, he might easily 
convert them into an engine for the worst of purposes. 

VIII. The cession of the whole treaty-making power 
to the president and senate was considered as one of 
the most formidable features in the instrument, in as 
much as it put it in the power of the president and any 
ten senators, who might represent the five smallest 
states, to enter into the most ruinous foreign engage- 
ments, and even to cede away by treaty any portion of 
the territory of the larger states: it was insisted, that the 
lower house, who were the immediate representatives 
of the people, instead of being excluded as they were 
by the constitution from all participation in the treaty- 
making power, ought at least to be consulted, if not to 
have the principal agency in so interesting a national 
act. 

IX. The immense patronage of the president was 
objected to; because it placed in his hands the means 
of corrupting the congress, the navy, and army, and of 
distributing, moreover, throughout the society, a band 
of retainers in the shape of judges, revenue officers, and 
tax gatherers, which would render him irresistible in 
any scheme of ambition that he might meditate against 
the liberties of his country. 

X. The irresponsibility of the whole gang of federal 
officers (as they were called) was objected to: there was, 
indeed, in some instances, a power of impeachment pre- 
tended to be given, but it was mere sham and mockery; 
since, instead of being tried by a tribunal, zealous and 
interested to bring them to justice, they were to try 
each other for offences, in which, probably, they were 
all mutually implicated. 



288 SKETCHES OF THE 

XI. It was insisted, that if we must adopt a consti- 
tution ceding away such vast powers, express and 
implied, and so fraught with danger to the liberties of 
the people, it ought at least to be guarded by a bill of 
rights: that in all free governments, and in the estimation 
of all men attached to liberty, there were certain rights 
unalienable — imprescriptible — and of so sacred a cha- 
racter, that they could not be guarded with too much 
caution: among these were the liberty of speech and of 
the press — what security had we, that even these sacred 
privileges would not be invaded? Congress might think it 
necessary, in order to carry into effect the given powers, 
to silence the clamours and censures of the people; 
and, if they meditated views of lawless ambition, they 
certainly will so think: what then would become of 
the liberty of speech and of the press? 

Several objections of a minor character were urged; 
such as, 

1. That the ambiguity with which the direction for 
publishing the proceedings of congress was expressed. 
(" from time to time,") put it in their power to keep the 
people in utter ignorance of their proceedings; and thus 
to seize the public liberties " by ambuscade." 

2. That the IXth section of the I. article, professing 
to set out restrictions upon the power of congress, gave 
them, by irresistible implication, the sovereign power 
over all subjects not excepted, and thus enlarged their 
constructive powers, ad infinitum, 

3. That congress had the power of involving the 
southern states in all the horrors which would result 
from a total emancipation of their slaves; and that the 
northern states, uninterested in the consequences of 
such an act, had a controlling majority, which possessed 



LIFE OF HENRY. 289 

the power, and would not probably want the inclination, 
to effect it. 

4. That the pay of the members was by the constitution 
to be fixed by themselves, without limitation or restraint. 
" They may, therefore/' said Mr. Henry, " indulge 
themselves in the fullest extent. They will make their 
compensation as high as they please. I suppose, if they 
be good men, their own delicacy will lead them to be 
satisfied with moderate salaries. But there is no security 
for this, should they be otherwise inclined." 

These objections, and many others which it were 
tedious to enumerate, were pressed upon the house 
day after day, with all the powers of reasoning and of 
eloquence; and where argument and declamation were 
found unavailing, the force of ridicule was freely resorted 
to. Thus, in relation to the objection of consolidation, 
Mr. Madison had said, " There are a number of opinions 
as to the nature of the government; but the principal 
question is, whether it be a federal or consolidated 
government. In order to judge properly of the question 
before us, we must consider it minutely in its principal 
parts. I conceive, myself, that it is of a mixed nature: — 
it is, in a manner, unprecedented: we cannot find one 
express example in the experience of the world — it 
stands by itself. In some respects, it is a government 
of a federal nature; in others, it is of a consolidated 
nature." He then proceeds to point out and discriminate 
its federal from its national features. Mr. Corbin, 
on the same side, expressed himself satisfied with 
Mr. Madison's definition of the instrument; but begged 
leave to call it by another name, viz. " a representa- 
tive federal government, as contradistinguished from a 
confederacy." 

Mr. Henry, in replying to these gentlemen, says — 

o o 



290 SKETCHES OF THE 

" This government is so new, it ivants a name! I wish 
its other novelties were as harmless as this. We are 
told, however, that, collectively taken, it is without an 
example! — that it is national in this part, and federal in 
that part, &c. We may be amused, if we please, by a 
treatise of political anatomy. In the brain it is national: 
the stamina are federal — *some limbs are federal, others 
national. The senators are voted for by the state 
legislatures — so far it is federal. Individuals choose 
the members of the first branch — here it is national. It 
is federal in conferring general powers; but national 
in retaining them. It is not to be supported by the 
states — the pockets of individuals are to be searched for 
its maintenance. What signifies it to me, that you 
have the most curious anatomical description of it in its 
creation? To all the common purposes of legislation, it 
is a great consolidation of government. You are not to 
have the right to legislate in any but trivial cases: you 
are not to touch private contracts: you are not to have 
the right of having armies, in your own defence: you 
cannot be trusted with dealing out justice between man 
and man. What shall the states have to do? Take care 
of the poor — repair and make highways — erect bridges — 
and so on, and so on! Abolish the state legislatures at 
once. What purposes should they be continued for? 
Our legislature will indeed be a ludicrous spectacle — 
180 men, marching in solemn farcical procession, 
exhibiting a mournful proof of the lost liberty of their 
country, without the power of restoring it. But, sir, we 
have the consolation, that U is a mixed government! 
that is, it may ivork sorely in your neck; but you will 
have some comfort by saying, that it was a federal 
government in its origin!" 

Notwithstanding this ridicule, however, thrown on 



LIFE OP HENRY. 291 

some of their arguments, Mr. Henry did not fail, on 
every proper occasion, to do justice to the great abilities 
and merits of his adversaries. To the eloquence of Col. 
Innis he paid a memorable tribute; and in one short 
sentence sketched a picture of it so vivid, and so 
faithful, that it would be injustice to both gentlemen 
not to give it a place: — "That honourable gentleman is 
endowed with great eloquence — eloquence splendid, 
magnificent, and sufficient to shake the human mind!" 
No circumlocution could have described with half the 
spirit and truth, that rare union of pomp and power 
which distinguished Col. Innis; whose car of triumph 
was always a chariot of war; pugnce vel pompce, 
pariter aptus. 

One of the most singular instances on record of the 
fallacy of the human memory, occurred in the course 
of these debates: this was in relation to the case of 
Josiah Philips, which has been already mentioned. 
Mr. Randolph, in answer to Mr. Henry's panegyrics 
on the constitution of the state of Virginia, brought 
forward that case in the following terms: — "There is 
one example of this violation (of the state constitution) 
in Virginia, of a most striking and shocking nature, — 
an example so horrid, that if I conceived my country 
would passively permit a repetition of it, dear as it is to 
me, I would seek means of expatriating myself from it. 
A man, who was then a citizen, was deprived of his 
life thus: — from a mere reliance on general reports, a 
gentleman in the house of delegates informed tlie Jwuse, 
that a certain man (Josiah Philips) had committed several 
crimes, and was running at large perpetrating other 
crimes; he, therefore, moved for leave to attaint him; 
he obtained that leave instantly; no sooner did he obtain 
it, than he drew from his pocket a bill ready written for 



292 SKETCHES OF THE 

tliat effect; it was read three times in one day, and carried 
to the senate; I will not say that it passed the same 
day through the senate; but he was attainted very 
speedily and precipitately, without any proof better 
than vague reports! Without being confronted ivith his 
accusers and witnesses; ivithout the privilege of calling 
for evidence in his behalf he was sentenced to death, and 
ivas afterwards actually executed. Was this arbitrary 
deprivation of life, the dearest gift of God to man, 
consistent with the genius of a republican government? 
Is this compatible with the spirit of freedom? This, 
sir, has made the deepest impression in my heart, and I 
cannot contemplate it without horror." Now the reader, 
by adverting to the statement which has been already 
given of Philips' case, and which is founded on record, 
will find that there is not one word of this eloquent 
invective that is consistent with the facts. What makes 
the case still more strange is, that Mr. Randolph, at the 
happening of the occurrence to which he alludes, held 
the double office of clerk of the house of delegates, and 
attorney-general of the commonwealth; in the first 
character, he had, only ten years before, been officially 
informed, that the bill of attainder had not been founded 
on report, but on a communication of the governor, 
enclosing the letter of the commanding officer of the 
militia in the quarter which was the theatre of Philips' 
ravages; that that letter had been in due form committed 
to the whole house on the state of the commonwealth, 
whose resolutions led to tlie bill in question; and that the 
bill, instead of being read three times in one day, had 
been regularly, and according to the forms of the 
1wuse,readon three several days; while in his character 
of attorney-general, he had himself indicted and pro- 
secuted Philips for highway robbery — -confronted him 



LIFE OF HENRY. 293 

with (lie witnesses, whose names are given at the foot 
of the indictment, still extant among our records, and 
endorsed in Mr. Randolph's own hand-writing; convicted 
him on that charge, on which charge, and on which alone, 
Philips was regularly sentenced and executed. Yet, not 
only Mr. Randolph, but all the other members who had 
occasion to advert to the circumstance, and even Mr. 
Henry, on whom it is supposed to have been designed to 
bear, proceed in their several criminations and defences, 
upon the admission that Philips had fallen a victim to 
the bill of attainder. Had the incident been of a com- 
mon character, there would have been nothing strangc- 
in its having been forgotten; but it is one of so singu- 
lar and interesting a nature, that this total oblivion of it 
by the principal actors themselves becomes a matter of 
curious history* 

The convention had been attended, from its com- 
mencement, by a vast concourse of citizens of all ages 
and conditions. The interest so universally felt in the 
question itself, and not less the transcendent talents 
which were engaged in its discussion, presented such 
attractions as could not be resisted. Industry deserted 
its pursuits, and even dissipation gave up its objects, 
for the superior enjoyments which were presented by 
the hall of the convention. Not only the people of the 
town and neighbourhood, but gentlemen from every 
quarter of the state, were seen thronging to the me- 
tropolis, and speeding their eager way to the building 
in which the convention held its meetings. Day after 
day, from morning till night, the galleries of the house 
were continually filled with an anxious crowd, who 
forgot the inconvenience of their situation in the excess 
of their enjoyment; and far from giving any interrup- 

* See Appendix. Note C. 



294 SKETCHES OF THE 

tion to the course of the debate, increased its interest 
and solemnity by their silence and attention. No 
bustle, no motion, no sound was heard among them, 
save only a slight movement when some new speaker 
arose, whom they were all eager to see as well as to 
hear; or when some master stroke of^eloquence shot 
thrilling along their nerves, and extorted an involuntary 
and inarticulate murmur. Day after day was this ban- 
quet of the mind and of the heart spread before them, 
with a delicacy and variety which could never cloy. 
There every taste might find its peculiar gratifica- 
tions — the man of wit — the man of feeling — the critic — 
the philosopher — the historian — the metaphysician — 
the lover of logic — the admirer of rhetoric — every man 
who had an eye for the beauty of action, or an ear for 
the harmony of sound, or a soul for the charms of 
poetic fancy — in short, every one who could see, or hear, 
or feel, or understand, might find in the wanton profu- 
sion and prodigality of that attic feast, some delicacy 
adapted to his peculiar taste. Every mode of attack 
and of defence, of which the human mind is capable, 
in decorous debate — every species of weapon and 
armour, offensive and defensive, that could be used with 
advantage, from the Roman javelin to the Parthian 
arrow, from the cloud of iEneas to the shield of 
Achilles — all that could be accomplished by human 
strength, and almost more than human activity, was 
seen exhibited on that celebrated floor. Nor did the 
debate become oppressive by its unvarying formality. 
The stateliness and sternness of extended argument 
were frequently relieved by quick and animated dia- 
logue. Sometimes the conversation would become 
familiar and friendly. The combatants themselves 
would seem pleased with this relief; forget that they 



LIFE OF HENRY. 295 

were enemies, and by a sort of informal truce put off 
their armour, and sit down amicably together to re- 
pose, as it were, in the shade of the same tree. By this 
agreeable intermixture of colloquial sprightliness and 
brilliancy with profound, and learned, and vigorous 
argument — of social courtesy with heroic gallantry, the 
audience, far from being fatigued with the discussion, 
looked with regret to the hour of adjournment. 

In this great competition of talents, Mr. Henry's- 
powers of debate still shone pre-eminent. They were 
now exhibiting themselves in a new aspect. Hitherto 
his efforts, however splendid, had been comparatively 
short and occasional. In the house of burgesses in 
1765, in the congress of 1774, and the state convention 
of 1775, he had exhibited the impetuous charge of the 
gallant Francis the first: but now, in combination with 
this fiery force, he was displaying all the firm and dauntless 
constancy of Charles the fifth. No shock of his adver- 
saries could move him from his ground. His resources 
never failed. His eloquence was poured from inexhaust- 
ible fountains, and assumed every variety of hue and 
form and motion, which could delight or persuade, in- 
struct or astonish. Sometimes it was the limpid rivulet 
sparkling down the mountain's side, and winding its 
silver course between margins of moss — then gradually 
swelling to a bolder stream, it roared in the headlong 
cataract, and spread its rainbows to the sun — now, it 
flowed on in tranquil majesty, like a river of the west, 
reflecting from its polished surface, forest, and cliff, and 
sky — anon, it was the angry ocean, chafed by the 
tempest, hanging its billows, with deafening clamours, 
among the cracking shrouds, or hurling them in sublime 
defiance at the storm that frowned above. 

Towards the close of the session, an incident occur- 



^96 SKETCHES OF THE 

red of a character so extraordinary as to deserve par- 
ticular notice. The question of adoption or rejection 
was now approaching. The decision was still uncer- 
tain, and every mind and every heart was filled with 
anxiety. Mr. Henry partook most deeply of this feel- 
ing; and while engaged, as it were, in his last effort, 
availed himself of the strong sensation which he knew 
to pervade the house, and made an appeal to it which, 
in point of sublimity, has never been sin-passed in any 
age or country of the world. After describing, in 
accents which spoke to the soul, and 'to which every 
other bosom deeply responded, the awful immensity of 
the question to the present and future generations, and 
the throbbing apprehensions with which he looked to 
the issue, he passed from the house and from the 
earth, and looking, as he said, " beyond that horizon 
which binds mortal eyes," he pointed — with a counte- 
nance and action that made the blood run back upon 
the aching heart — to those celestial beings, who were 
hovering over the scene, and waiting with anxiety for a 
decision which involved the happiness or misery of more 
than half the human race. To those beings — with the 
same thrilling look and action — he had just addressed 
an invocation, that made every nerve shudder with 
supernatural horror — when, lo! a storm at that instant 
arose, which shook the whole building, and the spirits 
whom he had called seemed to have come at his bidding. 
Nor did his eloquence, or the storm, immediately 
cease — but availing himself of the incident, with a mas- 
ter's art, he seemed to mix in the fight of his ^ethereal 
auxiliaries, and " rising on the wings of the tempest, to 
seize upon the artillery of Heaven, and direct its fiercest 
thunders against the heads of his adversaries." The 
scene became insupportable; and the house rose with- 



LIFE OF HENRY. 29? 

out the formality of adjournment, the members rushing 
from their seats with precipitation and confusion.* 

But all his efforts were in vain. Either the justice of 
the opposing cause, or the powers of his adversaries, or 
the prejudged opinions and instructions of the members, 
rendered his reasoning and his eloquence equally 
unavailing. Out of a house, composed of one hundred 
and sixty-eight members, the question of ratification 
was carried by a majority of ten. Mr. Henry himself 
seemed to have a presage of this result. After the 
storm which has been mentioned, colonel Innis, who, in 
his character of attorney-general, had been hitherto 
attending a court of oyer and terminer, came into the 
house, and the debate was renewed. Mr. Henry, in 
answering him, closed the last speech which he delivered 
on the floor, with the following remarks: 

" I beg pardon of this house for having taken up 
more time than came to my share; and I thank them for 
the patience and polite attention with which I have 
been heard. If I shall be in the minority, I shall have 
those painful sensations which arise from a conviction 
of being overpowered in a good cause. Yet, I will be a 
peaceable citizen! My head, my hand, and my heart, 
shall be free to retrieve tfeu, loss of liberty, and remove 
the defects of that system, in a constitutional way. I 
wish not to go to violence, but will wait with hopes that 



* The words above quoted are those of judge Archibald^Stuart : a gentle- 
man who was present, a member of the convention, and one of those who 
voted against the side of the question supported by Mr. Henry. The incident, 
as given in the text, is wholly founded on the statements of those who were 
witnesses of the scene ; and by comparing it with the corresponding passage 
in the printed debates, the reader may decide how far these are to be relied 
on as specimens of Mr. Henry's eloquence. 

rp 



298 SKETCHES OF THE 

the spirit which predominated in the revolution is not 
yet gone; nor the cause of those who are attached to the 
revolution yet lost — I shall therefore patiently wait, in 
expectation of seeing that government changed, so as 
to be compatible with the safety, liberty, and happiness 
of the people." 

The objections, however, which had been urged, 
and the arguments by which they had been supported, 
although they had not succeeded in preventing the 
ratification of the constitution, had produced a very 
serious effect on the house. Before their final dissolu- 
tion they agreed to a bill of rights, and a series of 
amendments (twenty in number) embracing and pro- 
viding for the objections of Mr. Henry and his associates. 
A copy of these amendments, engrossed on parchment, 
and signed by the president of the convention, was 
ordered to be transmitted to congress, together with the 
instrument of ratification. Similar copies were ordered 
to be transmitted to the executives and legislatures of 
the several states; and fifty copies of the ratification and 
proposed amendments were ordered to be struck for the 
use of each county in this commonwealth. 

Mr. Henry lost no ground with the people, at the 
time, for the part which he had taken on this occasion: 
and when afterwards the constitution began to develop 
its tendencies by practical operation, so many of his 
predictions were believed by a majority of the people 
of Virginia to be fulfilled, and so many more in a rapid 
progress of fulfilment, that his character for political 
penetration rose higher than ever. That he had lost no 
ground at the time, two signal proofs were given in the 
session of assembly immediately following that of the 
convention. The latter body rose on the 27th of June, 



LIFE OF HENRY. 299 

and the assembly met on the 20th of October following. 
This interval had been too short to permit the subsidence 
of that high excitement, which the canvass of the 
constitution had provoked ; and the assembly was 
consequently discriminated by feelings of party as strong 
and determined, as those which had characterized the 
convention itself. 

The constitution having been adopted by a sufficient 
number of states to carry it into effect, it became 
necessary at this session to provide for its organization, 
and, among other measures, to choose two senators to 
represent this state, in the congress of the United States. 
For this office, Mr. Madison was presented by those 
who were at that time distinguished by the appellation 
of federalists; by which nothing more was then meant, 
than that they were advocates for the adoption of the 
new federal constitution. The anti-federalists, on the 
contrary, who were alarmed by the vast powers which 
they considered as granted by the constitution, regarded 
it as a salutary check on the constructive extension 
of those powers, and as the best means of securing 
those amendments which they deemed essential to the 
liberties of the people, that the first congress should 
be composed of men of their own sentiments. In 
opposition to Mr. Madison, therefore, Mr. Henry took 
the unusual liberty of nominating two candidates, Mr. 
Richard H. Lee and Mr. Grayson; and, notwithstanding 
the great accession of character which Mr. Madison 
had acquired by the ability with which he had espoused 
the ratification of the constitution, those gentlemen were 
elected by a considerable majority. 

At the same session of the assembly, Mr. Henry, 
whose mind seems to have been filled with the most 
oppressive solicitude by the unconditional adoption of 



300 SKETCHES OF THE 

the constitution, and who brooded with correspondent 
anxiety over the most effective means of procuring 
amendments, moved, in the committee of the whole 
house, the following preamble and resolutions: 

" Whereas the convention of delegates of the people 
of this commonwealth did ratify a constitution or form 
of government for the United States, referred to them 
for their consideration, and did also declare that sundry 
amendments to exceptionable parts of the same ought 
to be adopted; and whereas the subject matter of the 
amendments agreed to by the said convention involves 
all the great, essential, and unalienable rights, liberties, 
and privileges of freemen; many of which, if not can- 
celled, are rendered insecure under the said constitution, 
until the same shall be altered and amended: 

" Resolved, That it is the opinion of this committee 
that, for quieting the minds of the good citizens of this 
commonwealth — and securing their dearest rights and 
liberties — and preventing those disorders which must 
arise under a government not founded in the confidence 
of the people — application be made to the congress of 
the United States, as soon as they shall assemble under 
the said constitution, to call a convention, for proposing 
amendments to the same, according to the mode therein 
directed. 

" Resolved, That it is the opinion of this committee, 
that a committee ought to be appointed to draw up and 
report to this house, a proper instrument of writing, 
expressing the sense of the general assembly, and 
pointing out the reasons which induce them to urge 
their application thus early, for the calling the aforesaid 
convention of the states. 

" Resolved, That it is the opinion of this committee, 



LIFE OF HENRY. 301 

that the said committee ought to be instructed to pre- 
pare the draft of a letter, in answer to one received 
from his excellency George Clinton, esquire, president 
of the convention of New York — and a circular letter, 
on the aforesaid subject, to the other states in the 
union, expressive of the wish of the general assembly 
of this commonwealth, that they may join in an appli- 
cation to the new congress, to appoint a convention of 
the states, so soon as the congress shall assemble under 
the new constitution." 

These were carried in committee, and immediately 
reported to the house; when a motion was made to 
amend them, by striking out from the word " whereas," 
and substituting, in lieu of the original, the following 
preamble and resolutions: 

" Whereas the delegates appointed to represent the 
good people of this commonwealth, in the late conven- 
tion held in the month of June last, did, by their act of 
the 25th of the same month, assent to and ratify the 
constitution recommended on the 1 7th day of Septem- 
ber, 1787, by the federal convention for the government 
of the United States, declaring themselves, with a 
solemn appeal to the Searcher of hearts for the purity 
of their intentions, under the conviction, ' that what- 
soever imperfections might exist in the constitution, 
ought rather to be examined in the mode prescribed 
therein, than to bring the union into danger by a delay, 
with a hope of obtaining amendments previous to the 
ratification/ And whereas, in pursuance of the said 
declaration, the same convention did, by their subsequent 
act of the 27th of June aforesaid, agree to such amend- 
ments to the said constitution of the government for 



302 SKETCHES OF THE 

the United states, as were by them deemed necessary to 
be recommended to the consideration of the congress, 
which shall first assemble under the said constitution, 
to be acted upon according to the mode prescribed in 
the fifth article thereof; at the same time enjoining it 
upon their representatives in congress, to exert all 
their influence, and use all reasonable and legal methods, 
to obtain a ratification of the foregoing alterations and 
provisions, in the manner provided by the fifth article 
of the said constitution, and in all congressional laws 
to be passed in the mean time, to conform to the spirit 
of those amendments as far as the said constitution 
would admit: 

" Resolved, therefore, that it is the opinion of this 
committee, that an application ought to be made, in the 
name and on the behalf of the legislature of this com- 
monwealth, to the congress of the United States, so 
soon as they shall assemble under the said constitution, 
to pass an act, recommending to the legislatures of the 
several states, the ratification of a bill of rights, and of 
certain articles of amendment, proposed by the conven- 
tion of this state, for the adoption of the United States; 
and that, until the said act shall be ratified in pursuance 
of the fifth article of the said constitution of the govern- 
ment for the United States, congress do conform their 
ordinances to the true spirit of the said bill of rights 
and articles of amendment. 

" Resolved, That it is the opinion of this committee, 
that the executive ought to be instructed to transmit a 
copy of the foregoing resolution to the congress of the 
United States, so soon as they shall assemble, and to 
the legislatures and executive authorities of each state 
in the union." 



LIFE OF HENRV. 303 

On this proposal of amendment a very animated 
debate ensued, which resulted in its rejection, and the 
adoption of the original report, by a majority of more 
than two for one. 

These two measures — the election of the senators 
named by Mr. Hemy, in opposition to so formidable a 
competitor as Mr. Madison — and the carrying so strong 
a measure as the call of a new continental convention, 
for the purpose of revising and altering the constitution — 
certainly furnish the most decisive proof, that his 
influence remained unimpaired by the part which he 
had taken in the convention of the state. 

It was in the course of the debate which has been 
just mentioned, that Mr. Henry was driven from his 
usual decorum into a retaliation, that became a theme 
of great public merriment at the time, and has conti- 
nued ever since one of the most popular anecdotes that 
relate to him. He had insisted, it seems, with great 
force, that the speedy adoption of the amendments was 
the only measure that could secure the great and un- 
alienable rights of the freemen of this country — that the 
people were known to be exceedingly anxious for thi 
measure — that it was the only step which could recon 
cile them to the new constitution — and assure that publi 
contentment, security, and confidence, which were th$ 
sole objects of government, and without which no 
government could stand — that whatever might be the 
individual sentiments of gentlemen, yet the wishes of 
the people, the fountain of all authority, being known, 
they were bound to conform to those wishes — that, for 
his own part, he considered his opinion as nothing, 
when opposed to those of his constituents; and that he 
was ready and willing, at all times and on all occasions, 
" to bow, with the utmost deference, to the majesty of the 




304 SKETCHES OF THE 

'people." — A young gentleman, on the federal side of 
the house, who had been a member of the late conven- 
tion, and had in that body received, on one occasion, a 
slight touch of Mr. Henry's lash, resolved now, in an 
ill-fated moment, to make a set charge upon the veteran, 
and brave him to the combat. He possessed fancy, a 
graceful address, and an easy, sprightly elocution ; and 
had been sent by his father (an opulent man, and an 
officer of high rank and trust under the regal govern- 
ment) to finish his education in the colleges of England, 
and acquire the polish of the court of St. James; where 
he had passed the whole period of the American revolu- 
tion. Returning with advantages which were rare in 
this country, and with the confidence natural to his 
years, presuming a little too far upon those advantages, 
he seized upon the words, " bow to the majesty of the 
people/' which Mr. Henry had used, and rung the 
changes upon them with considerable felicity. He 
denied the solicitude of the people for the amendments, 
so strenuously urged on the other side; he insisted that 
the people thought their " great and unalienable rights" 
sufficiently secured by the constitution which they had 
adopted: that the preamble of the constitution itself, 
which was now to be considered as the language of the 
people, declared its objects to be, among others, the 
security of those very rights; the people then declare the 
constitution the guaranty of their rights, while the gen- 
tleman, in opposition to this public declaration of their 
sentiments, insists upon his amendments as furnishing 
that guaranty; yet the gentleman tells us, that "he bows 
to the majesty of the people:" these words he accom- 
panied with a most graceful bow. "The gentleman," 
he proceeded, " had set himself in opposition to the will 
of the people, throughout the whole course of this 



LIFE OF HENRY. 305 

transaction: the people approved of the constitution: the 
suffrage of their constituents in the last convention had 
proven it — the people wished, most anxiously wished, 
the adoption of the constitution, as the only means of 
saving the credit and the honour of the country, and 
producing the stability of the union: the gentleman, on 
the contrary, had placed himself at the head of those 
who opposed its adoption — yet, tlie gentleman is ever 
ready and uniting, at all times and on all occasions, 
to bow to thejnajesty of the people," (with another 
profound and graceful bow.) Thus he proceeded, 
through a number of animated sentences, winding up 
each one with the same words, sarcastically repeated, 
and the accompaniment of the same graceful obeisance. 
Among other things, he said, " it was of little import- 
ance, whether a country was ruled by a despot, with a 
tiara on his head, or by a demagogue in a red cloak, a 
caul-bare wig, &c." (describing Mr. Henry's dress so 
minutely, as to draw every eye upon him) " although he 
should profess on all occasions to bow to tJie majesty 
of the people." A gentleman who was present, and 
who, struck with the singularity of the attack, had the 
curiosity to number the vibrations on those words, and 
the accompanying action, states that he counted thirteen 
of the most graceful bows he had ever beheld. The 
friends of Mr. Henry considered such an attack on a 
man of his years and high character as very little short 
of sacrilege; on the other side of the house, there was, 
indeed, a smothered sort of dubious laugh, in which 
there seemed to be at least as much apprehension as 
enjoyment. Mr. Henry had heard the whole of it, 
without any apparent mark of attention. The young 
gentleman having finished his philippic, very much at 
least to his own satisfaction, took his seat, with the 

Q q 



306 SKETCHES OF THE 

gayest expression of triumph in his countenance — 
" Heu! JYescia mens hominum fati, sortisque futurw!" 
Mr. Henry raised himself up, heavily and with affected 
awkwardness — " Mr. Speaker," said he, " I am a plain 
man, and have been educated altogether in Virginia. 
My whole life has been spent among planters and other 
plain men of similar education, who have never had 
the advantage of that polish which a court alone can 
give, and which the gentleman over the way has so 
happily acquired; indeed, sir, the gentleman's employ- 
ments and mine (in common with the great mass of 
his countrymen) have been as widely different as our 
fortunes; for while that gentleman was availing himself 
of the opportunity which a splendid fortune afforded 
him, of acquiring a foreign education, mixing among 
the great, attending levees and courts, basking in the 
beams of royal favour at St. James' ', and exchanging 
courtesies with crowned heads, I was engaged in the 
arduous toils of the revolution; and was probably as far 
from thinking of acquiring those polite accomplishments 
which the gentleman has so successfully cultivated, as 
that gentleman then was from sharing in the toils and 
dangers in which his unpolished countrymen were 
engaged. I will not, therefore, presume to vie with the 
gentleman in those courtly accomplishments, of which 
he has just given the house so agreeable a specimen; 
yet such a bow as I can make, shall be ever at the ser- 
vice of the people" — herewith, 'although there was no 
man who could make a more graceful bow than Mr. 
Henry, he made one so ludicrously awkward and clown- 
ish, as took the house by surprise, and put them into a 
roar of laughter — " the gentleman, I hope, will com- 
miserate the disadvantages of education under which I 
have laboured, and will be pleased to remember, that I 



LIFE OF HENRY. 307 

have never been a favourite with that monarch, whose 
gracious smile he has had the happiness to enjoy." He 
pursued this contrast of situations and engagements, for 
fifteen or twenty minutes, without a smile, and without 
the smallest token of resentment, either in countenance, 
expression, or manner. " You would almost have 
sworn," says a correspondent, " that he thought himself 
making his apology for his own awkwardness, before 
a full drawing-room at St. James'. I believe there 
was not a person that heard him, the sufferer himself 
excepted, who did not feel every risible nerve affected. 
His adversary mean time hung down his head, and 
sinking lower and lower, until he was almost con- 
cealed behind the interposing forms, submitted to the 
discipline as quietly as a Russian malefactor, who 
had been beaten with the knout, till all sense of feeling 
was lost." 

The documents reported and adopted by the house of 
delegates, in consequence of the foregoing resolutions, 
are the following — which are given because they are 
said to be from the pen of Mr. Henry. 

" Resolved, That it is the opinion of this committee, 
that an application ought to be made, in the name and 
on behalf of the legislature of this commonwealth, to 
the congress of the United States, in the following words, 
to wit: 

" The good people of this commonwealth, 
" In convention assembled, having ratified the consti- 
tution submitted to their consideration, this legislature 
has, in conformity to that act, and the resolutions of the 
United States in congress assembled, to them transmitted, 
thought proper to make the arrangements that were 



SOS SKETCHES OF THE 

necessary for carrying it into effect. Having thus shown 
themselves obedient to the voice of their constituents, 
all America will find, that so far as it depends on them, 
that plan of government will be carried into immediate 
operation. But the sense of the people of Virginia 
would be but in part complied with, and but little 
regarded, if we went no further. In the very moment 
of adoption, and coeval with the ratification of the new 
plan of government, the general voice of the convention 
of this state pointed to objects no less interesting to 
the people we represent, and equally entitled to your 
attention. At the same time that, from motives of 
affection for our sister states, the convention yielded 
their assent to the ratification, they gave the most 
unequivocal proofs that they dreaded its operation 
under the present form. 

" In acceding to a government under this impression, 
painful must have been the prospect, had they not 
derived consolation from a full expectation of its im- 
perfections being speedily amended. In this resource, 
therefore, they placed their confidence — a confidence 
that will continue to support them, whilst they have 
reason to believe they have not calculated upon it 
in vain. 

" In making known to you the objections of the 
people of this commonwealth to the new plan of 
government, we deem it unnecessary to enter into a 
particular detail of its defects, which they consider as 
involving all the great and unalienable rights of freemen: 
For their sense on this subject, we refer you to the 
proceedings of their late convention, and the sense of 
this general assembly, as expressed in their resolutions 
of the day of . 

K We think proper, however, to declare that, in our 



LIFE OF HENRY. S09 

opinion, as those objections were not founded on 
speculative theory, but deduced from principles which 
have been established by the melancholy example of 
other nations, in different ages — so they never will be 
removed, until the cause itself shall cease to exist. The 
sooner, therefore, the public apprehensions are quieted, 
and the government is possessed of the confidence of the 
people, the more salutary will be its operations, and the 
longer its duration. 

"The cause of amendments we consider as a common 
cause; and since concessions have been made from 
political motives, which we conceive may endanger 
the republic, we trust that a commendable zeal will be 
shown for obtaining those provisions, which experience 
has taught us are necessary to secure from danger the 
unalienable rights of human nature. 

" The anxiety with which our countrymen press for 
the accomplishment of this important end, will ill admit 
of delay. The slow forms of congressional discussion 
and recommendation, if indeed they should ever agree 
to any change, would we fear be less certain of success. 
Happily for their wishes, the constitution hath presented 
an alternative, by submitting the decision to a convention 
of the states. To this, therefore, we resort, as the 
source from whence they are to derive relief from their 
present apprehensions. We do, therefore, in behalf of 
our constituents, in the most earnest and solemn manner- 
make this application to congress, that a convention be 
immediately called, of deputies from the several states, 
with full power to take into their consideration the 
defects of this constitution that have been suggested 
by the state conventions, and report such amendments 
thereto as they shall find best suited to promote our 
common interests, and secure to ourselves, and our 



310 SKETCHES OF THE 

latest posterity, the great and unalienable rights of 
mankind." 

Draft of a letter to governor Clinton on the same 
subject: 

« Sir, 

" The letter from the convention of the state of 
New-York hath been laid before us since our present 
session. The subject which it contemplated was taken 
up, and we have the pleasure to inform you of the entire 
concurrence in sentiment, between that honourable 
body and the representatives in senate and assembly of 
the freemen of this commonwealth. The propriety of 
immediately calling a convention of the states, to take 
into consideration the defects of the constitution, was 
admitted; and in consequence thereof, an application 
agreed to, to be presented to the congress so soon 
as it shall be convened, for the accomplishment of 
that important end. We herewith transmit to your 
excellency a copy of this application, which we request 
may be laid before your assembly at their next meeting. 
We take occasion to express our most earnest wishes 
that it may obtain the approbation of New-York, and of 
all other sister states." 

Draft of a letter to the several states on the same 
subject: 

" The freemen of this commonwealth, in convention 
assembled, having, at the same time that they ratified 
the federal constitution, expressed a desire that many 
parts, which they considered as exceptionable parts, 
should be amended — the general assembly, as well from 



LIFE OF HENRY. 311 

a sense of duty as a conviction of its defects, have 
thought proper to take the earliest measures in their 
power, for the accomplishment of this important object. 
They have accordingly agreed upon an application to be 
presented to the congress, so soon as it shall be assembled, 
requesting that honourable body to call a convention of 
deputies from the several states, to take the same into 
their consideration, and report such amendments as they 
shall find best calculated to answer the purpose. As we 
conceive that all the good people of the United States 
are equally interested in obtaining those amendments 
that have been proposed, we trust that there will be 
an harmony in their sentiments and measures, upon 
this very interesting subject. We herewith transmit 
to you a copy of this application, and take the liberty 
to subjoin our earnest wishes that it may have your 
concurrence." 

In the two remaining years during which Mr. Henry 
continued a member of the assembly, I find nothing 
worthy of particular remark. In the spring of 1791, 
he declined a re-election, with the purpose of bidding 
a final adieu to public life: and although the tender of 
the most honourable appointments, the solicitations of 
his numerous friends and admirers, and ultimately his 
own wishes conspired to draw him from his retreat, he 
never again made his appearance in a public character, 



31£ SKETCHES OF THE 



SECTION IX. 

Mr. Henry still continued, however, rather through 
necessity than choice, the practice of the law: and in 
the fall of this year, 1791, a cause came on, to be argued 
before the circuit court of the United States, in which 
he made what has been considered his most distin- 
guished display of professional talents. This was the 
celebrated case of the British debts; a case in which, 
from its great and extensive interest, the whole power 
of the bar of Virginia was embarked, and which was 
discussed with so much learning, argument, and elo- 
quence, as to have placed that bar, in the estimation of 
the federal judges, (if the reports of the day may be 
accredited,) above all others in the United States. 

The cause was argued first in 1791, before judges 
Johnson and Blair, of the supreme court, and Griffin, 
judge of the district; and afterwards in 1793, before 
judges Jay and Iredell, and the same district judge. Mr. 
Henry was one of the counsel for the defendant, and 
argued the cause on both occasions. The deep interest 
of the question in a national point of view, and the 
manner in which it involved more particularly the 
honour of the state of Virginia, and the fortunes of 
her citizens, had excited Mr. Henry to a degree of 
preparation which he had never before made; and he 
came forth, on this occasion, a perfect master of every 
principle of law, national and municipal, which touched 
the subject of investigation in the most distant point. 

Of the first argument a manuscript report is still 
extant, taken in short-hand by Mr. Robertson, the same 



LIFE OF HENRY. S1& 

gentleman who reported the debates of the convention 
of Virginia in 1788. The second argument was not 
reported; because, as Mr. Robertson states, he was 
informed by the counsel, that it would be nothing more 
than a repetition of the first; and he adds, that he was 
afterwards told it was much inferior. What must we 
conclude, then, as to the powers displayed by Mr. Henry 
in the first argument, when, in the course of the second 
and inferior one, he extorted from judge Iredell, as he 
sat on the bench, the exclamation — " Gracious God! — 
he is an orator, indeed!" 

The report of the first argument, as deciphered by 
Mr. Robertson, from his stenographic notes, has been 
obligingly submitted to the author of these sketches, 
and he has extracted from it an imperfect analysis of 
Mr. Henry's speech. The report may unquestionably 
be relied on, so far as it professes to state the princi- 
ples of law, and the substance of the arguments, urged 
by the very eminent counsel engaged in the cause; and 
in this point of view, it is to be lamented that so valuable 
a work should still exist only in the form of a manu- 
script. But, as a sample of Mr. Henry's peculiar and 
inimitable eloquence, it is subject to all the objections 
which have been already urged to the printed debates 
of the Virginia convention. This manuscript report 
bears upon its face the most conclusive proof of its 
inaccuracy in those passages, in which it attempts to 
exhibit either the captivating flights of Mr. Henry's 
fancy, or those unexpected and overwhelming assaults 
which he made upon the hearts of his judges; for in 
all such passages, (it is believed, without an exception,) 
the pen has been drawn through the sentence, as origi- 
nally written, in such a manner, however, as to leave 
the words still legible; while the same thought, or some^ 

r r 



314 SKETCHES OF THE 

thing like it, has been interlined in other words; and 
even the interlineations themselves are oftener than 
otherwise erased, altered, and farther interlined, for 
the purpose of seeking to amend the expression: so 
that, in casting one's eyes over the manuscript report 
of Mr. Henry's speech, in order to single out the most 
brilliant passages, those which are the most blotted and 
blurred by erasures and interlineations may be selected 
at once, without the hazard of mistake. Hence it is 
obvious, that the reporter had not, in his stenographic 
notes, the very expression of the speaker; but some 
hint merely of the thought, which he was afterwards 
unable to fill up to his own satisfaction. If farther 
evidence on this subject were required, it is found in 
this circumstance; that, on reading Mr. Robertson's 
imitations of the splendid parts of Mr. Henry's speech 
to several of those who heard it delivered, there has 
not been one who has not turned off from the recital, 
with the strongest expressions of disappointment, and in 
several instances corrected by memory the language of 
the reporter. 

This explanation is equally due to the memory of Mr. 
Henry, to the reader, and the author; for the author is 
fully aware that if the truth of the general character 
which he has attempted to give of Mr. Henry's elo- 
quence shall be tested by those imperfect specimens to 
which, for want of more accurate ones, he has been com- 
pelled to resort, discredit will be thrown upon the whole 
work, and it will be regarded rather as romance than 
history. But the ingenuous and candid reader will look 
beyond those poor and wretched imitations, and my own 
equally poor and wretched descriptions, to that proof of 
Mr. Henry's eloquence which is furnished by its prac- 
tical effects. Can there be any doubt of the supreme 



LIFE OF HENRY. 315 

eloquence of that man who awakened and hushed at 
his pleasure, " the stormy wave of the multitude?" who, 
by his powers of speech, roused the whole American 
people from north to south? put the revolution into 
motion, and bore it upon his shoulders, as Atlas is 
said to do the heavens? to whose charms of persuasion, 
not the rabble merely, but all ranks of society have 
borne the most unanimous evidence? who moved, not 
merely the populace, the rocks and stones of the field, 
but " by the summit took the mountain oak, and made 
him stoop to the plain?" — Instead, then, of comparing 
our descriptions of Mr. Henry's eloquence with the 
specimens which his reporters have made of it, let the 
reader compare that description with the effects which it 
actually wrought, and the universal testimony which is 
borne to it, by the rapturous admiration of every one who 
ever had the happiness to hear him ; and the author, so 
far from being afraid of the charge of exaggeration, will 
be apprehensive only of that of presumption, in attempt- 
ing a description of powers so perfectly undescribable. 

But to return to his argument in the case of the 
British debts. In order to render intelligible the 
analysis which we propose to give to the reader, it 
will be necessary to prefix to it a statement of the case, 
of the pleadings, and the points made in argument, by 
the opening counsel. 

William Jones, a British subject, as surviving 
partner of the mercantile house of Farrell and Jones, 
brought an action of debt, in the federal circuit court 
at Richmond, against doctor Thomas Walker, of the 
county of Albemarle, in Virginia, on a bond which bore 
date before the revolutionary war; to wit, on the 11th 
of May, 1772. To this action the defendant pleaded 
five several pleas: 



316 SKETCHES OF THE 

1. The first was, the plea of payment generally, on 
which the plaintiff took issue; but it was not tried, the 
cause having gone off on the demurrers growing out of 
the subsequent pleadings. 

2. In his second plea, the defendant relies on the act 
of sequestration passed by the legislature of Virginia 
during the revolutionary war, to wit, on the 20th of 
October, 1777; by which it was enacted, that "it should 
be lawful for any citizen of this commonwealth, owing 
money to a subject of Great Britain, to pay the same, or 
any part thereof, from time to time, as he should think 
fit, into the loan office of the state; taking thereout a 
certificate for the same in the name of the creditor, with 
an indorsement under the hand of the commissioner 
of the loan office, expressing the name of the payee, 
delivering such certificate to the governor and council, 
ivhose receipt should discharge him from so much of 
the debt:" — and the defendant exhibits the governor's 
receipt for 21511. 18s. which he offers in bar, to so 
much of the plaintiff's demand. 

3. In his third plea, he sets out the act of forfeiture, 
passed by the assembly on the 3d of May, 1779, where- 
by it was, among other things, enacted, " that all the 
property, real and personal, within the commonwealth, 
belonging at that time to any British subject, should be 
deemed to be vested in the commonwealth;" as also the 
act of the 6th of May, 1 782, whereby it was enacted, 
" that no demand whatsoever, originally due to a subject 
of Great Britain, should be recoverable in any court 
in this commonwealth, although the same might be 
transferred to a citizen of this state, or to any other 
person capable of maintaining such action, unless the 
assignment had been or might be made for a valuable^ 
consideration bona fide paid before the first of May, 



LIFE OF HENRY. 317 

1777:" and the plea insists, that the debt in the 
declaration mentioned, was personal property of a 
British subject, forfeited to the commonwealth under 
the first-mentioned act, and a demand, whose recovery 
in the courts of the commonwealth, was barred by 
the last. 

4. The fourth plea takes the ground, that the king of 
Britain and his subjects were still alien enemies, and 
that the state of war still continued on the ground of 
the several direct violations of the definitive treaty of 
peace, which follow: — 1. In continuing to carry off the 
negroes in his possession, the property of American 
citizens, and refusing to deliver them, or permit the 
owners to take them, according to the express stipula- 
tions of that treaty: — 2. In the forcible detention of the 
forts Niagara and Detroit, and the adjacent territory: — 
3. In supplying the Indians, who were at war with the 
United States, with arms and ammunition, furnished 
within the territories of the United States, to wit, at 
the forts Detroit and Niagara, and at other forts and 
stations forcibly held by the troops and armies of the 
king, within the United States; and in purchasing from 
the Indians, within the territories aforesaid, the plunder 
taken by them in war, from the United States, and the 
persons of American citizens made prisoners; which 
several infractions, the plea contends, had abolished the 
treaty of peace, and placed Great Britain and the United 
States in a state of war; and that hence, the plaintiff, 
being an alien enemy, had no right to sue in the courts 
of the United States. 

5, The fifth plea sets forth, that at the time of con- 
tracting the debt in the declaration mentioned, the 
plaintiff and the defendant were fellow-subjects of the 
same king and government: that on the fourth of July 



318 SKETCHES OP THE 

1776, the government of the British monarch in this 
country was dissolved, and the co-allegiance of the 
parties severed; whereby the plea contends, that the 
debt in the declaration mentioned was annulled. 

To the second plea the plaintiff replied, insisting on 
the treaty of peace of 1 783, whereby it was stipulated 
that creditors on either side should meet with no lawful 
impediment to the recovery of the full value, in sterling 
money, of all bona fide debts, theretofore contracted; 
and also on the constitution of the United States of 
1787, by which it had been expressly declared, that 
treaties which were then made, or which should there- 
after be made, under the authority of the United States, 
should be the supreme law of the land, any thing in the 
constitution, or the laws of any state to the contrary 
notwithstanding. 

The defendant rejoined, that the treaty had been 
annulled by the infractions of it on the part of Great 
Britain, and so could not aid the cause of the plaintiff; 
and farther, that the debt in the declaration mentioned 
was not bona fide due, and owing to the plaintiff at the 
date of the treaty, in so much as the same (or at least 
2151/. 18s. of it) had been discharged by the payment 
set forth in the second plea; and hence that it was 
not a subsisting debt, within the terms and provisions 
of the treaty. 

To this rejoinder, as also to the third, fourth, and fifth 
pleas of the defendant, the plaintiff demurred; and the 
cause came on to be argued, on these demurrers, at 
Richmond, on the 24th of November 1791. 

The Virginian reader will readily estimate the splen- 
dour and power of the discussion in this case, when he 
learns the names of the counsel engaged in it: on the 
part of the plaintiff then were Mr. Ronald, Mr. Baker, 



LIFE OF HENRY. 319 

Mr. Wickham, and Mr. Starke; and on that of the 
defendant, Mr. Henry, Mr. Marshall, (the present chief 
justice of the United States) Mr. Alexander Campbell, 
and Mr. Innis, the attorney-general of Virginia: I mention 
their names in the order in which they spoke on their 
respective sides. 

The cause was opened with great fairness and 
ability, by Mr. Ronald and Mr. Baker, in succession; 
they were answered by all the counsel of the defendant; 
and Mr. Wickham, Mr. Starke, and Mr. Baker were 
heard in the reply. 

The' opening counsel made the following points: 

First, That debts were not a subject of confiscation 
in war. 

Secondly, That if they were, Virginia, at the time of 
passing the acts relied on by the defendant, was not a 
sovereign and independent state, Great Britain not 
having at that time assented to her independence; and 
hence, that she had not the power of legislating away 
the debts of fellow-subjects, not represented in her 
legislative councils — which councils were themselves a 
usurpation, in the eye of the law. 

Thirdly, That if debts were subject to confiscation, 
and Virginia were competent to pass laws to that effect, 
she had not done so; and Mr. Baker, particularly, 
entered into a minute and ingenious scrutiny of the 
language of the several acts of assembly, to prove 
that, so far from having been forfeited, the debts 
were recognized as existing British debts down to the 
year 1782. 

Fourthly, That if all these points were against the 
plaintiff, the right of recovering those debts was re- 
stored by the treaty of 1 783, and the constitution of the 



320 SKETCHES OF THE 

United States, which recognized that treaty as the 
supreme law of the land; and, 

Fifthly, That the alleged infractions of the treaty on 
the part of Great Britain did not produce the effect of 
abolishing the treaty; that this was a national concern, 
with which the individual plaintiff and defendant had 
nothing to do; that the question of infraction was one to 
be decided by the supreme power of the nation only, and 
one of which the court could not, with any propriety, 
take cognizance. 

Mr. Baker closed his opening speech on Thursday 
evening the 24th of November, and it was publicly 
understood that Mr. Henry was to commence his reply 
on the next day. The legislature was then in session; 
but when 1 1 o'clock, the hour for the meeting of the 
court, arrived, the speaker found himself without a 
house to do business. All his authority and that of his 
sergeant at arms were unavailing to keep the members 
in their seats; every consideration of public duty yielded 
to the anxiety which they felt, in common with the 
rest of their fellow-citizens, to hear this great man on 
this truly great and extensively interesting question. 
Accordingly, when the court was ready to proceed to 
business, the court room of the capitol, large as it is, 
was insufficient to contain the vast concourse that was 
pressing to enter it. The portico, and the area in which 
the statue of Washington stands, were filled with a 
disappointed crowd, who nevertheless maintained their 
stand without. In the court room itself, the judges, 
through condescension to the public anxiety, relaxed 
the rigour of respect which they were in the habit of 
exacting, and permitted the vacant seats of the bench, 
and even the windows behind it, to be occupied by the 



LIFE OF HENRY. 321 

impatient multitude. The noise and tumult occasioned 
by seeking a more favourable station was at length 
hushed, and the profound silence which reigned within 
the room gave notice to those without, that the orator 
had risen, or was on the point of rising. Every eye in 
front of the bar was rivetted upon him with the most 
eager attention; and so still and deep was the silence, 
that every one might hear the throbbing of his own 
heart. Mr. Henry, however, appeared wholly uncon- 
scious that all this preparation was on his account, and 
rose with as much simplicity and composure as if the 
occasion had been one of ordinary occurrence. No- 
thing can be more plain, modest, and unaffected, than 
his exordium: — " I stand here, may it please your ho- 
nours, to support, according to my power, that side of 
the question which respects the American debtor. I beg 
leave to beseech the patience of this honourable court; 
because the subject is very great and important, and 
because I have not only the greatness of the subject to 
consider, but those numerous observations which have 
come from the opposing counsel to answer. Thus, 
therefore, the matter proper for my discussion is 
unavoidably accumulated. Sir, there is a circumstance 
in this case, that is more to be deplored than that which 
I have just mentioned; and that is this: — Those animo- 
sities which the injustice of the British nation hath 
produced, and which I had well hoped would never 
again be the subject of discussion, are necessarily 
brought forth. The conduct of that nation, which bore 
so hard upon us in the late contest, becomes once more 
the subject of investigation. I know, sir, how well it 
becomes a liberal man and a Christian to forget and to 
forgive. As individuals, professing *a holy religion, it is 
our bounden duty to forgive injuries done us as indi- 

ss 



322 SKETCHES OF THE 

viduals. But when to the character of Christian you 
add the character of patriot, you are in a different situa- 
tion. Our mild and holy system of religion inculcates 
an admirable maxim of forbearance. If your enemy 
smites one cheek, turn the other to him. But you must 
stop there. You cannot apply this to your country. 
As members of a social community, this maxim does 
not apply to you. When you consider injuries done to 
your country, your political duty tells you of vengeance. 
Forgive as a private man, but never forgive public 
injuries. Observations of this nature are exceedingly 
unpleasant, but it is my duty to use them/' 

With the same primeval simplicity, he enters upon 
the argument; not making a formal division of the whole 
subject, but merely announcing the single proposition 
which he was about to maintain, for the time; thus, 
immediately after the exordium which has been quoted, 
he proceeds thus: 

" The first point which I shall endeavour to establish 
will be, that debts, in common wars, become subject to 
forfeiture; and if forfeited in common wars, much more 
must they be so in a revolution war, as the late contest 
was. In considering this subject, it will be necessary to 
define what a debt is. I mean by it an engagement, or 
promise by one man to pay to another, for a valuable 
consideration, an adequate price. By a contract thus 
made, for a valuable consideration, there arises what, 
in the law phrase, is called a lien on the body and goods 
of the promissor or debtor. This interest which the 
creditor becomes entitled to, in the goods and body of 
his debtor, is such as may be taken from the creditor, if 
he be found the subject of a hostile country. This 



LIFE OF HENRY. 323 

position is supported by the following authorities." 
He then cites and reads copious extracts from Grotius 
and Vattel, which seem to support his position de- 
cisively — and then proceeds thus: "This authority 
decides, in the most clear and satisfactory manner, that, 
as a nation, we had powers as extensive and unlimited 
as any nation on earth. This great writer, after stating 
the equality and independence of nations, and who are, 
and who are not enemies, does away the distinction 
between corporeal and incorporeal rights, and declares 
that war gives the same right over the debts, as over the 
other goods of an enemy. He illustrates his doctrine 
by the instance of Alexander's remitting to the Thessa- 
lians, a debt due by them to the Theban common- 
wealth — This is a case in point — For supposing the 
subjects of Alexander had been indebted to the The- 
bans, might he not have remitted the debts due by 
them to that people, as well as the debts due them by 
his allies, the Thessalians? Let me not be told that he 
was entitled to the goods of the Thebans, because he 
had conquered them. If he could remit a debt due by 
those whose claim of friendship was so inferior, those 
who were only attached to him by the feeble ties of 
contingent and temporary alliance — if his Macedonians, 
his immediate and natural subjects, were indebted to 
the Thebans, could he not have remitted their debts? 
This author states in clear, unequivocal terms, by fair 
inference and unavoidable deduction, that when two 
nations are at war, either nation has a right, according 
to the laws of nature and nations, to remit to its own 
citizens, debts which they may owe to the enemy. If 
this point wanted further elucidation — it is pointedly 
proved by the authority which I first quoted from Gro- 
tius, that it is an inseparable concomitant of sovereign 



324 SKETCHES OF THE 

power, that debts, and contracts similar to those which 
existed in America, at the time the war with Great 
Britain broke out, may, in virtue of the eminent domain, 
or right, be cancelled and destroyed. ' A king has a 
greater right in the goods of his subjects, for the public 
advantage, than the proprietors themselves. And when 
the exigency of the state requires a supply, every man is 
more obliged to contribute towards it, than to satisfy his 
creditors. The sovereign may discharge a debtor from 
the obligation of paying, either for a certain time or for 
ever.' Wh at language can be more expressive than this? 
Can the mind of man conceive any thing more compre- 
hensive? Rights are of two sorts, private and inferior— 
or eminent and superior, such as the community hold 
over the persons and estates of its members for the 
common benefit. The latter is paramount to the former. 
A king or chief of a nation has a greater right than the 
owner himself over any property in the nation. The 
individual who owns private property cannot dispose 
of it, contrary to the will of his sovereign, to injure 
the public. This author is known to be no advocate 
for tyranny, yet he mentions that a king has a superior 
power over the property in his nation, and that by virtue 
thereof, he may discharge his subjects for ever from 
debts which they owe to an enemy. 

" The instance which our author derives from the 
Roman history, affords a striking instance of the length 
to which the necessities and exigencies of a nation 
will warrant it to go. It was a juncture critical to the 
Roman affairs. But their situation was not more 
critical or dangerous than ours, at the time these debts 
were confiscated. It was after the total defeat, and 
dreadful slaughter at C annas, when the state was in the 
most imminent danger. Our situation in the late war was 



LIFE OP HENRY. 325 

equally perilous. Every consideration must give way 

to the public safety. That admirable Roman maxim, 

salus populi suprema lex, governed that people in every 

emergency. It is a maxim that ought to govern eveiy 

community. It was not peculiar to the Roman people. 

The impression came from the same source from which 

we derive our existence. Self-preservation, that great 

dictate implanted in us by nature, must regulate our 

conduct; we must have a power to act according to our 

necessities, and it remains for human judgment to decide 

what are the proper occasions for the exercise of this 

power. Call to your recollection our situation during 

the late arduous contest. Was it not necessary in our 

day of trial, to go to the last iota of human right? The 

Romans fought for their altars and household gods. 

By these terms they meant every thing dear and valuable 

to men. Was not our stake as important as theirs? But 

many other nations engage in the most bloody wars, for 

the most trivial and frivolous causes. If other nations 

who carried on wars for a mere point of honour, or a 

punctilio of gallantry, were warranted in the exercise 

of this power; were not we, who fought for every thing 

most inestimable and valuable to mankind, justified in 

using it? Our finances were in a more distressing 

situation than theirs at this awful period of our 

existence. Our war was in opposition to the most 

grievous oppression— we resisted, and our resistance 

was approved and blessed by heaven. The most 

illustrious men who have considered human affairs, 

when they have revolved human rights, and considered 

how far a nation is warranted to act in cases of 

emergency, declare that the only ingredient essential 

to the rectitude and validity of its measures is, that 

they be for the public good. I need hardly observe 



326 SKETCHES OF THE 

that the confiscation of these debts was for the public 
good. Those who decided it were constitutionally 
enabled to determine it. Grotius shows that you 
have not only power over the goods of your enemies, 
but according to the exigency of affairs, you may seize 
the property of your citizens." After reading the 
apposite passage from Grotius, he says — " I read these 
authorities to prove, that the property of an enemy is 
liable to forfeiture, and that debts are as much the 
subject of hostile contest as tangible property. And 
Vattel, p. 484, as before mentioned, pointedly enumerates 
rights and debts among such property of the enemy as 
is liable to confiscation. To this last author I must 
frequently resort in the course of my argument. I put 
great confidence in him, from the weight of his authority, 
— for he is universally respected by all the wise and 
enlightened of mankind, being no less celebrated for 
his great judgment and knowledge, than for his 
universal philanthropy. One of his first principles 
of the law of nations is, a perfect equality of rights 
among nations; that each nation ought to be left in 
the peaceable enjoyment of that liberty it has derived 
from nature. I refer your honours to his preliminary 
discourse from 6th to the 12th page; and as it will 
greatly elucidate the subject, and tend to prove the 
position I have attempted to support, I will read section 
17, 18, 19, and 20 of this discourse." Having read 
these sections, he touches transiently, but powerfully, 
the objection to the want of national independence to 
pass the laws of forfeiture, till that independence was 
assented to by the king of Great Britain. " When 
the war commenced," said he, " these things, called 
British debts, lost their quality of external obligation, 
and became matters of internal obligation, because the 



LIFE OF HENRY. 327 

creditors had no right of constraint over the debtors. 
They were, before the war, matters of perfect external 
obligation, accompanied by a right of constraint; but 
the war having taken away this right of constraint 
over the debtors, they were changed into an internal 
obligation, binding the conscience only. For it will 
not surely be denied, that the creditor lost the right of 
constraint over his debtor. From the authority of 
this respectable author, therefore — from the clearest 
principles of the laws of nature and nations, these 
debts became subject to forfeiture or remission. Those 
authors state, in language as emphatic and nervous as 
the human mind can conceive, or the human tongue 
can utter, that independent nations have the power of 
confiscating the property of their enemies; and so had 
this gallant nation. America, being a sovereign and 
complete nation, in all its forms and departments, 
possessed all the rights of the most powerful and 
ancient nations. Respecting the power of legislation, 
it was a nation complete, and without human control. 
Respecting public justice, it was a nation blessed by 
heaven, with the experience of past times; not like those 
nations, whose crude systems of jurisprudence originated 
in the ages of barbarity and ignorance of human rights. 
America was a sovereign nation, when her sons stepped 
forth, to resist the unjust hand of oppression, and 
declared themselves independent. The consent of 
Great Britain was not necessary (as the gentlemen on 
the other side urge) to create us a nation. Yes, sir, we 
were a nation, long before the monarch of that little 
island in the Atlantic ocean gave his puny assent to it. 
(These words he accompanied by a most significant 
gesture — rising on tiptoe — pointing as to a vast distance, 
and half closing his eye-lids, as if endeavouring, with 



328 SKETCHES OP THE 

extreme difficulty, to draw a sight on some object 
almost too small for vision — and blowing out tbe words, 
puny assent, with lips curled with unutterable contempt.) 
America was long before that time a great and gallant 
nation. In the estimation of other nations we ivere so: 
the beneficent hand of heaven enabled her to triumph, 
and secured to her the most sacred rights mortals can 
enjoy. When these illustrious authors, these friends to 
human nature, these kind instructors of hupian errors 
and frailties,* contemplate the obligations and corre- 
sponding rights of nations, and define the internal right, 
which is without constraint and not binding, do they 
not understand such rights as these, which the British 
creditors now claim? Here this man tells us what 
conscience says ought to be done, and what is compul- 
sory. These British debts must come within the grasp 
of human power, like all other human things. They 
ceased to have that external quality, and fell into that 
mass of power, which belonged to our legislature by the 
law of nations." 

He comes now to a very serious obstacle, which it 
required both address and vigour to remove. Vattel, 
whom he had cited to support his position of the forfeit- 
able character of debts, and who, so far as Mr. Henry 
had read him, does support him explicitly, annexes a 
qualification to the principle, which had been pressed 
with great power by the gentlemen who opened the 
cause. The curiosity of the reader will be gratified by 
seeing the manner in which he surmounted the objec- 
tion. " But we are told, that, admitting this to be true 



* In the second argument, he eulogized the writers on the laws of 
nations, " as benevolent spirits, who had held up the torch of science to a 
benighted world." 



LIFE OF HENRY. 329 

in the fullest latitude, yet the customary law of Europe 
is against the exercise of this power of confiscation of 
debts; in support of which position, they rely on what 
is added by Vattel, p. 484. Let us examine what he 
says: — ' The sovereign has naturally the same right 
over what his subjects may be indebted to enemies: 
therefore he may confiscate debts of this nature, if the 
term of payment happen in the time of war, or at least 
he may prohibit his subjects from paying while the war 
lasts. But at present, in regard to the advantage and 
safety of commerce, all the sovereigns of Europe have 
departed from this rigour. And as this custom has 
generally been received, he ivho should act ccmtrary to it, 
would injure the public faith; for strangers trusted his 
subjects only, from a firm persuasion, that the general 
custom would be observed/ Excellent man! and excel- 
lent sentiments! The principle cannot be denied to be 
good: but when you apply it to the case before the court, 
does it warrant their conclusions? The author says, 
that although a nation has a right to confiscate debts 
due by its people to an enemy, yet, at present, the cus- 
tom of Europe is contrary. It is not enough for this 
author to tell us that this custom is contrary to the 
right. He admits the right. Let us see whether this 
custom has existence here. Vattel, having spoken of 
the necessary law of nations, which is immutable, and 
the obligatiqns whereof are indispensable, proceeds to 
distinguish the several other kinds of natural law in the 
same preliminary discourse, p. 11 and 12, thus: 

' Certain maxims and customs consecrated by long 
use, and observed by nations, between each other, as a 
kind of law, form this customary law of nations, or the 
custom of nations. This law is founded on a t#cit con- 
sent, or, if you will, on a tacit convention of the nations 

t t 



330 SKETCHES OP THE 

that observe it, with respect to each oilier. Whence it 
appears, that it is only binding to those nations that have 
adopted it, and that is not universal, any more than 
conventional laws. It must be here also observed of 
this customary law, that the particulars relating to it 
do not belong to a systematic treatise on the law of 
nations, but that we ought to confine ourselves to the 
giving a general theory of it, that is, to the rules 
which here ought to be observed, as well with respect 
to its effects, as in relation to the matter itself: and in 
this last respect, these rules will serve to distinguish 
the lawful and innocent customs, from those that are 
unjust and illegal! 

f When a custom is generally established, either 
between all the polite nations in the world, or only 
between those of a certain continent, as of Europe, for 
example; or those who have a more frequent corres- 
pendence; if that custom is in its own nature indifferent, 
and much more, if it it be a wise and useful one, it ought 
to be obligatory on all those nations who are considered 
as having given their consent to it. And they are bound 
to observe it, with respect to each other, while they have 
not expressly declared that they will not adhere to it. 
But if that custom contains any thing unjust or illegal, 
it is of no force; and eveiy nation is under an obligation 
to abandon it, nothing being able to oblige or permit a 
nation to violate a natural law. 

' These three kinds of the law of nations, voluntary, 
conventional, and customary, together, compose the 
positive law of nations. For they all proceed from the 
volition of nations; the voluntary law, from their pre- 
sumed consent: the conventional law, from an express 
consent;, and the customary law, from a tacit consent: 
and as there can be no other manner of deducing any 



LIFE OP HENRI. 331 

law from the will of nations, there are only these three 
kinds of the positive law of nations.' 

"This excellent author, after having stated the volun- 
tary law of nations to be the result of the equality of 
nations, and the conventional law to be particular com- 
pacts or treaties, binding only on the contracting par- 
lies, declares, that the customary law of nations is only 
binding to those nations that have adopted it; that it is 
a particular and not an universal law; that it applies 
only to distinct nations. The case of Alexander and 
the Thebans is founded on the general law of nations, 
applicable to nations at war. It is enough for me then 
to show, that America, being at war, was entitled to the 
privilege of national law. But, says Vattel, the present 
state of European refinement controls the general law 
(of which he had been before speaking.) We know 
that the customary law of nations can only bind tlwse 
ivho are parties to the custom. In the year 1776, when 
America announced her will to be free, or in the year 
1777, when the law concerning British debts passed, 
was there a customary law of America to this effect? 
Or were the customary laws of Europe binding on 
America? Were we a party to any such customary 
law? Was there any thing in our constitution or laws 
which tied up our hands? No, sir. To make this 
customary law obligatory, the assent of all the parties 
to be bound by it is necessary. There must be an 
interchange of it. It is not for one nation or community 
to say to another, you are bound by this law, because 
our kingdom approves of it. It must not only be reci- 
procal in its advantages and princijiles, but it must have 
been reciprocal in its exercise. Virginia could not, 
therefore, be bound by it. Let us see whether it could 
be a hard case on the British creditors, that tnis 



332 SKETCHES OF THE 

customary law of nations did not apply in their favour. 
Were these debts contracted from a persuasion of its 
observance? Did the creditors trust to this customary 
law of nations? No, sir. They trusted to what they 
thought as firm, the statute and common laiv of 
England. — Victorious and successful as their nation 
had lately been, when they, in their pride and in- 
considerate self-confidence, stretched out the hand 
of oppression, their subjects placed no reliance on 
the customs of particular nations. They put confidence 
in those barriers of right, which were derived from their 
own nation. Their reliance was, that the tribunals esta- 
blished in this country, under the same royal authority 
as in England, would do them justice. If we were not 
willing, they possessed the power of compelling us to 
do them justice. The debts having, therefore, not 
been contracted from any reliance on the customary 
law of nations, were they contracted from a regard 'to 
the rights of commerce? 1 ' From a view of promoting 
the commerce of those little things called colonies? This 
regard could not have been the ground they were con- 
tracted on, for their conduct evinced that they wished 
to take the right of commerce from us. What other 
ingredient remains to show the operation of this custom 
in their favour? The book speaks of strangers trusting 
subjects of a different nation, from a reliance on the 
observance of the customary law. The fact here was, 
that fellow-subjects trusted us, on the footing just 
stated; trusting to the existing compulsory process of 
law, not relying on a passive inert custom. A fearful, 
plodding, sagacious trader, would not rely on so flimsy, 
so uncertain a dependence. Something similar to what 
he thought positive satisfaction, he relied on. Were 
we not subject to tne same king? The cases are 



LIFE OF HENRY. 333 

then at variance. He states the custom to exist for 
the advantage of commerce, and that a departure from 
it would injure the public faith. Public faith is in this 
case out of the question. The public faith was not 
pledged — it could not therefore be injured. I have 
already read to your honours from the 11th page of 
the preliminary discourse of Vattel, ' that the customary 
law of nations is only binding on those who have 
adopted it, and that it is not universal, any more 
than conventional laws.' It is evident we could not 
be bound by any convention or treaty to which we our- 
selves were not a party: and from this authority it is 
equally obvious, that we could not be bound by any 
customary law to which we were not parties. I think, 
therefore, with great submission to the court, that the 
right for which I contended, that is, that in common wars 
between independent nations, either of the contending 
parties has a right to confiscate or remit debts due by 
its people to the enemy, is not shaken by the customary 
law of nations, as far as it regards us, because the 
custom could not affect us. But gentlemen say we were 
not completely independent till the year 1 783 ! To take 
them on their own ground, their arguments will fail 
them. There is a customary law which will operate 
pretty strongly on our side of the question. What 
were the inducements of the debtor? On what did the 
American debtor rely? Sir, he relied for protection 
on that system of common and statute law on which 
the creditors depended. Was he deceived in that reli- 
ance? That he was most miserably deceived, I believe 
will not admit of a doubt. The customary law of 
nations will only apply to distinct nations, mutually 
consenting thereto. When tyranny attempted to rivet 
her chains upon us, and we boldly broke them asunder. 



334 SKETCHES OF THE 

we were remitted to that amplitude of freedom which 
the beneficent hand of nature gave us. We were not 
bound by fetters which are of benefit to one party, 
while they are destructive to the other. Would it be 
proper that we should be bound, and they unre- 
strained?" As a still farther answer to the objection, 
and as giving the only rule of restraint in operating on 
the property of a belligerent, he cites the following 
principle from Vattel, and applies it to the actual state 
of America. "Vattel, book the 3d, ch. 8, sect. 137, 
says, that the lawful end gives a true right only to those 
means which are necessary for obtaining such end. 
Whatever exceeds this, is censured by the laws of 
nature as faulty, and will be condemned at the tribunal 
of conscience. Hence it is, that the right to such or 
such acts of hostility varies according to their circum- 
stances. What is just and perfectly innocent in a war, 
in one particular situation, is not always so in another. 
Right goes hand in hand ivith necessity, and the exi- 
gency of the case; but never exceeds it." " This, sir, is 
the first dictate of nature, and the practice of nations; 
and if your misfortunes and distresses should be sad 
and dreadful, you are let loose from those common 
restraints which may be proper on common occasions, 
in order to preserve the great rights of human nature. 
This is laid down by that great writer in clear and 
unequivocal terms. If then, sir, it be certain, from a 
recurrence to facts, that it was necessary for America 
to seize on British property, this book warrants the 
legislature of this state in passing those confiscating and 
prohibitory laws. I need only refer to your recollec- 
tion, for our pressing situation during the late contest; 
and happy am I, that this all important question comes 
on, before the heads of those who were actors in the 



LIFE OF HENRY. 335 

great scene are laid in the dust. An uninformed pos- 
terity would be unacquainted with the awful necessity 
which impelled us on. If the means were within reach — 
we were warranted by the laws of nature and nations to 
use them. The fact was that we were attacked by one 
of the most formidable nations under heaven; a nation 
that carried terror and dread with its thunder to both 
hemispheres." (This illustration of the power of Great 
Britain was, if we may trust respectable tradition, much 
more expanded than we find it in the report; and such 
was the force of his imagination, and the irresistible 
energy of his delivery and action, that the audience 
now felt themselves instinctively recoiling from the 
tremendous power of that very nation, which but a 
short time before had been exhibited as a mere 
dot in the Atlantic, a point so microscopic as to be 
scarcely visible to the naked eye: he proceeds to 
close the first member of his first point, thus:) " Our 
united property enabled us to look in the face 
that mighty people. Dared we to have gone in opposi- 
tion to them, bound hand and foot? Would we have 
dared to resist them, fettered? for we should have been 
fettered, if we had been deprived of so considerable a 
part of our little stock of national resources. In that 
most critical and dangerous emergency, our all was but 
a little thing. Had we a treasury — an exchequer? Had 
we commerce? Had we any revenue? Had we any 
thing from which a nation could draw wealth? No, sir. 
Our credit became the scorn of our foes. However, 
the efforts of certain patriotic characters (there were 
not a few of them, thank heaven) gave us credit among 
our own people. But we had not a farthing to spare. 
We were obliged to go on a most grievous anticipation, 
the weight of which we feel at this day. Recur to our 



v 

336 SKETCHES OF THE 

actual situation, and the means we had of defending 
ourselves. The actual situation of America is described 
here, where this author says, ' that right goes hand in 
hand ivith necessity.' The necessity being great aud 
dreadful, you are warranted to lay hold of every atom 
of money within your reach, especially if it be the 
money of your enemies. It is prudent and necessary 
to strengthen yourselves and weaken your enemies. 
Vattel, book 3d, ch. 8, sect. 138, says ' the business of 
a just war being to suppress violence and injustice, it 
gives a right to compel, by force, him who is deaf to the 
voice of justice. It gives a right of doing against the 
enemy, whatever is necessary for weakening him — for 
disabling him from making any farther resistance in 
support of his injustice — and the most effectual, the 
most proper methods may be chosen, provided they have 
nothing odious, be not unlawful in themselves, or ex- 
ploded by the law of nature.' Here let me pause for 
a moment, and ask, whether it be odious in itself, or 
exploded by the law of nature, to seize those debts? 
No — because the money was taken from the very of- 
fenders. We fought for the great, unalienable, here- 
ditary rights of human nature. An unwarrantable 
attack was made upon us. An attack, not only not 
congenial with motherly or parental tenderness, but 
incompatible with the principles of humanity or civiliza- 
tion. Our defence then was a necessary one. What 
says Vattel, book 3d, ch. 8, sect. 136? 'the end of a 
just war is to revenge or prevent injury; that is, to pro- 
cure by force the justice which cannot otherwise be 
obtained; to compel an unjust person to repair an injury 
already done, or to give securities against any wrong 
threatened by him. On a declaration of war, therefore, 
this nation has a right of doing against the enemy what- 



LIFE OF HENRY. 337 

ever is necessary to this justifiable end of bringing him 
to reason, and obtaining justice and security from him/ 
We have taken nothing in this necessary defence, but 
from the very offenders — those who unjustly attacked 
us: — for we had a right of considering every individual 
of the British nation as an enemy. This I prove by the 
same great writer, p. 519, sect. 139, of the same book. 
c An enemy attacking me unjustly gives me an undoubted 
right of repelling his violences; and he who opposes me 
in arms, when 1 demand only my right, becomes himself 
the real aggressor, by his unjust resistance. He is the 
first author of the violence, and obliges me to make use 
of force, for securing myself against the wrongs intended 
me either in my person or possessions; for if the effects 
of this force proceed so far as to take away his life, he 
owes the misfortune to himself; for if, by sparing him, I 
should submit to the injury, the good would soon become 
the prey of the wicked. Hence the right of killing 
enemies in a just war is derived; when their resistance 
cannot be suppressed — when they are not to be reduced 
by milder methods, there is a right of taking away their 
life. Under the name of enemies, as we have already 
shown, are comprehended not only the first author of 
the war, but likewise all who join him, and fight for 
his cause.' Thus I think the first part of my position 
confirmed and unshaken ; that in common wars, a nation, 
not restrained by the customary law of nations, has a 
right to confiscate debts." In the second member of 
that point, he is released from the servility of quotation ; 
and, to borrow a phrase of his own, " remitted to the 
amplitude" of his natural genius: the reader will there- 
fore be amused by a more copious extract. " From this 
I will go on to the other branch of my position: That 
if, in common wars, debts be liable to forfeiture., a 

u u 



338 SKETCHES OF THE 

fortiori, must they be so in a revolution war. Let me 
contrast the late war with wars in common. According 
to those people called kings, wars in common are 
systematic and produced for trifles; for not conforming 
to imaginary honours; because you have not lowered 
your flag before him at sea; or for a supposed affront to 
the person of an ambassador. Nations are set by the 
ears, and the most horrid devastations are brought on 
mankind, for the most frivolous causes. If, then, when 
small matters are in contest, debts be forfeitable, what 
must have accrued to us, as engaged in the late revolution 
war — a war commenced in attainder, perfidy, and con- 
fiscation? If we take with us this great principle of 
Vattel, that right goes in hand ivith necessity, and 
consider the peculiar situation of the American people, 
we will find reason more than sufficient to give us a 
right of confiscating those debts. The most striking 
peculiarity attended the American war. In tibe first of 
it, we were stripped of every municipal right. Rights 
and obligations are correspondent, co-extensive, and 
inseparable — they must exist together, or not at all. 
We were, therefore, when stripped of all our municipal 
rights, clear of every municipal obligation, burden, and 
onerous engagement. If then the obligation be gone, 
what is become of the correspondent right? They are 
mutually gone/' (These little words, " they are mutu- 
ally gone," which would have made no figure in the 
pronunciation of an ordinary speaker, are said to have 
formed a beautiful picture, «as delivered by Mr. Henry: 
his eyes seemed to have pursued these associated 
objects to the extremest verge of mortal sight, while the 
fall of his voice, and correspondent fall of his extended 
hand, with the palm downwards, depicted the idea of 
evanescence with indescribable force: the audience 



LIFE OF HENRY. 339 

might imagine that they saw the objects at the very 
instant when they vanished in the distance, and became 
commingled with the air: and all this, too, without any 
affected pause to give it effect; without any apparent 
effort on his part; but with all the quickness of thought 
and all the ease of nature.) " The case of sovereign and 
independent nations at war is far different; because, 
there private right is respected, and domestic asylum 
held sacred. — Was it the case in our war? No, sir. — 
Daggers were planted in your chambers, and mischief, 
death, and destruction, might meet you at your fireside. 
There is an essential variance between the late war and 
common wars. In common wars, children are not 
obliged to fight against their fathers, nor brothers 
against brothers, nor kindred against kindred. Our 
men were compelled, contrary to the most sacred ties 
of humanity, to shed the blood of their dearest con- 
nexions. In common wars, contending parties respect 
municipal rights, and leave, even to those they invade, 
the means of paying debts, and complying with obliga- 
tions; they touch not private property. For example^ 
when a British army lands in France, they plunder 
nothing: they pay for what they have, and respect the 
tribunals of justice, unless they have a mind to be 
called a savage nation. — Were we thus treated? Were 
we permitted to exercise industry and to collect debts, 
by which we might be enabled to pay British creditors? 
Had we a power to pursue commerce? No, sir. — What 
became of our agriculture? Our inhabitants were 
mercilessly and brutally plundered, and our enemies 
professed to maintain their army by those means only. 
Our slaves carried away, our crops burnt, a cruel war 
carried on against our agriculture — disability to pay 
debts produced by pillage and devastation, contrary to 



340 SKETCHES OF THE 

every principle of national law. From that series of 
plenty in which we had been accustomed to live and to 
revel, we were plunged into every species of human 
♦calamity. Our lives attacked — charge of rebels fixed 
upon us — confiscation and attainder denounced against 
the whole continent; and he that was called king of 
England sat judge upon our case — he pronounced his 
judgment, not like those to whom poetic fancy has given 
existence — not like him who sits in the infernal regions, 
and dooms to the Stygian lake those spirits who deserve 
it, because lie spares the innocent, and sends some to 
the fields of Elysium — not like him who sat in ancient 
imperial Rome, and wished the people had but one 
neck, that he might at one blow strike off their heads, 
and spare himself the trouble of carnage and massacre, 
because one city would have satisfied his vengeance — 
not like any of his fellow-men, for nothing would satiate 
his sanguinaiy ferocity, but the indiscriminate destruc- 
tion of a whole continent — involving the innocent with 
the guilty. Yes, he sat in judgment with his coadjutors, 
and pronounced proscription, attainder, and forfeiture, 
against men, women, and even children at the breast. 
Is not this description pointedly true in all its parts? 
And ivho were his coadjutors and executioners in this 
strange court of judicature? Like the fiends of poetic 
imagination — Hessians, Indians, and Negroes, weip his 
coadjutors and executioners. Is there any thing in this 
sad detail of offences which is unfounded? any thing 
not enforced by the act of parliament against America? 
We were thereby driven out of their protection, and 
branded by the epithet rebels. The term rebel may 
not now appear in all its train of horrid consequences. 
We know that when a person is called rebel by that 
government, his goods and life are forfeited, and his very 



LIFE OF HENRY. 341 

blood pronounced to be corrupted, and the severity of 
the punishment entailed on his posterity. To whom 
may we apply for the verity of this? The jurisprudence 
and history of that nation prove, that, when they speak 
of rebels, nothing but blood will satisfy them. Is there 
nothing hideous in this part of the portrait? — It is 
unparalleled in the annals of mankind. Though I have 
respect for individuals of that nation, my duty constrains 
me to speak thus. When we contemplate this mode 
of warfare, and the sentiments of the writers on natural 
law on this subject, we are justified in saying, that 
in this revolution war, we had a right to consider 
British debts as subject to confiscation — and to seize 
the property of those who originated that war. As 
to the injuries done to agriculture, they appear in a 
diminutive view, when compared to the injuries and 
indignities offered to persons, and mansions of abode. 
Sir, from your seat you might have seen instances of 
the most grievous hostility: not only private property 
wantonly pillaged, but men, women, and children, 
dragged publicly from their habitations, and indis- 
criminately devoted to destruction. The rights of 
humanity were sacrificed. We were then deprived not 
only of the benefits of municipal, but natural law. If 
there shall grow out of these considerations a palpable 
disability to pay those debts, I ask if the claim be just? 
For that disability was produced by those excesses — 
by those very men who come on us now for payment. 
Here give me leave to say, that they sold us a bad 
title in whatever they sold us — in real as well as in 
personal property. Describe the nature of a debt: it is 
an engagement or promise to pay — but it must be for 
a valuable consideration. If this be clear, was not the 
title, to whatever property they sold us, bad in every 



342 SKETCHES OF THE 

sense of the word, when the war followed? What can 
add value to property? Force. Notwithstanding the 
equity and fairness of the debt when incurred, if the 
security of the property received- was afterwards 
destroyed, the title has proved defective. Suppose 
millions were contracted for and received, those millions 
give you no advantage, without force to protect them. 
This necessary protection is withdrawn by the very 
men who were bound to afford it, and who now demand 
payment. Neither lands, slaves, nor other property, 
are worth a shilling, without protecting force. This 
title was destroyed, when the act of parliament, putting 
us out of their protection, passed against America. 
I say, sir, the title was destroyed by the very offenders 
who come here now and demand payment. Justice and 
equity cancel the obligation as to the price that was to 
be given for it, because the tenure is destroyed, and 
the effects purchased have no value. Such a claim is 
unsupported by the plainest notions of right and wrong. 
For this long catalogue of offences committed against 
the citizens of America, every individual of the British 
nation is accountable. How are you to be compensated 
for those depredations on persons and property? Are 
you to go to the kingdom of England, to find the very 
individual who did you the outrage, and demand 
satisfaction of him? To tell you of such a remedy as 
this, is adding insult to injury. Every individual is 
chargeable with national offences." To maintain this 
last position, he cites an authority expressly in point, 
from Vattel, and proceeds thus: "These observations 
of Vattel amount to this: that a king or conductor of a 
nation is considered as a moral person, by means of 
whom the nation acquires or loses its rights, and 
subjects itself to penalties. The individuals, and the 



LIFE OP HENRY. 343 

nation which they compose, are one. I will therefore 
take it for granted, that whatever violences and excesses 
were committed on this continent are chargeable to the 
plaintiff in this very action. Recollect our distressed 
situation. We had no exchequer, no finances, no army, 
no navy, no common means of defence. Our necessity — 
dire necessity compelled us to throw aside those rules 
which respect private property, and to make impresses 
on our own citizens to support the war. Right and 
necessity being co-extensive, we were compelled to 
exert a right the most eminent over the whole com- 
munity. The saluspopuli demanded what we did. If 
we had a right to disregard the legal fences thrown 
round the property of our citizens, had we not a greater 
right to take Rritish property? Another peculiarity 
contributes to aid our defence. The want of an 
exchequer obliged us to emit paper money, and compel 
our citizens to receive it for gold. In the ears of some 
men this sounds harshly. Rut they are young men, 
who do not know and feel the irresistible necessity that 
urged us. Would your armies have been raised, 
clothed, maintained, or kept together without paper 
money? Without it, the war would have stood still, 
resistance to tyranny would have stopped, and despotism, 
with all its horrid train of appurtenances, must have 
depressed your country. We compelled the people to 
receive it in payment of all debts — we induced and 
invited them (if we did not compel them) to put it into the 
treasury, as a complete discharge from their debts. Sir, 
I trust I shall not live to see the day, when the public 
councils of America will give ground to say that this was 
a state-trick, contrived to delude and defraud the citizens. 
What must it be ostensibly, when, by the compact of 
your nation, they had publicly bound and pledged 



344 SKETCHES OF THE 

themselves, that it was and should be money, if after- 
wards, in the course of human events, when temptations 
present themselves, they shall declare that it is not 
money? Sir, the honest planter is unskilled in political 
tricks and deceptions. His interest ought never to be 
sacrificed. The law is his guide. The law compelled 
him to receive it, and his countrymen would have 
branded him with the name of enemy if he had refused it. 
The laws of the country are as sacred as the imaginary 
sanctity of British debts. Sir. national engagements 
ought to be held sacred; the public violation of this 
solemn engagement will destroy all confidence in the 
government. If you depart from the national compact 
one iota, you give a dangerous precedent, which may 
imperceptibly and gradually introduce the most destruc- 
tive encroachment on human rights." 

He then proceeds to notice more directly the objec- 
tion, that we we were not a people competent for legisla- 
tion till the assent of the British king was given to our 
independence: "I will beg leave here to dissent from 
the position of the gentleman on the other side, which 
denied that we were a people, till our enemies were 
pleased to say we were so. That we were a people, 
and had a right to do every thing which a great and a 
royal — nay an imperial people could do, is clear and 
indisputable. Though under the humble appearance of 
republicanism, our government and national existence, 
when examined, are as solid as a rock — not resting 
on the mere fraud and oppression of rulers, nor the 
credulity, nor barbarous ignorance of the people; but 
founded on the consent and conviction of enlightened 
human nature. That we had every right that completely 
independent nations can have, will be satisfactorily 
proved to your honours, by again referring to Vattel." 



LIFE OF HENRY. 345 

He then cites and reads a passage from Vattel, the effect 
of which is, that during a civil war, the parties, acknow- 
ledging no common judge on earth, are to be considered 
as two distinct people; and to govern themselves in the 
conduct of the war by the general laws of nations. 
After which he proceeds thus: 

" Here then, sir, is proof abundant, that before the 
acknowledgment of American independence by Great 
Britain, we had a right to be considered as a nation; 
because, on earth we had no common superior, to give 
a decision of the dispute between us and our sovereign. 
After declaring ourselves a sovereign people, we had 
every right a nation can claim as an independent com- 
munity. But the gentlemen on the other side greatly 
rely upon this principle, that a contract cannot be dis- 
solved without the consent of all the contracting parties: 
the inference is, that the consent of the king of Great 
Britain was necessary to the dissolution of the govern- 
ment. Tyranny has too often, and too successfully 
rivetted its chains, to warrant a belief, that a tyrant 
will ever voluntarily release his subjects from the 
governmental compact. Rather might it be expected, 
that the last iota of human misery would be borne, and 
the oppression would descend from father to son, to the 
latest period of earthly existence. The despotism of 
our sovereign ought to be considered as an implied 
consent, on his part, to dissolve the compact between 
us; and he and his subjects must be considered as one 
— there can be no distinction. For, in any other view, 
his consent could not have been obtained, without force. 
There is such a thing, indeed, as tyranny from free 
choice. Sweden not long ago surrendered its liberties 
in one day, as Denmark had done formerly; so that this 
branch of the human family is cut off from every pos- 

xx 



346 SKETCHES OF THE 

sible enjoyment of human rights. But the right to resist 
oppression is not denied. The gentlemen's doctrine 
cannot therefore apply to national communities. If any 
additional force was wanting to confirm what I advance, 
it would be derived from the treaty of peace, which 
further proves, that we were entitled to all the privileges 
of independent nations. The consent of all the people 
of Europe said we were free. Our former master with- 
held his consent till &few unlucky events compelled him. 
And when he gave his fiat, it gave us, by relation back 
to the time of the declaration of independence, all the 
rights and privileges of a completely sovereign nation: 
our independence was acknowledged by him, previous 
to the completion of the treaty of peace. It was not a 
condition of the treaty, but was acknowledged, by his 
own overture, preparatory to it. View the consequences 
of their fatal doctrine. There would not only have been 
long arrears of debts to pay, but a long catalogue of 
crimes to be punished. If the ultimate acknowledg- 
ment of our independence by Great Britain had not 
relation back to the time of the declaration of indepen- 
dence, all the intermediate acts of legislation would be 
void — and every decision and act, consequent thereon, 
would be null. But, sir, we were a complete nation on 
every principle, according to the authorities I have al- 
ready read; in addition to which I will refer your honours 
to Vattel, book iv. ch. vii. sect. 88, to show we were 
entitled to the benefits of national law, and to use 
all the resources of the community: 'From the equality 
of all nations really sovereign and independent, it is a 
principle of the voluntary law of nations, that no nation 
can control another in its internal municipal legisla- 
tion/ If we consider the business of confiscation 
according to the immemorial usages of Great Britain, 



LIFE OP HENRY. 347 

we will find, that the law and practice of that country 
support my position. In the wars which respect revo- 
lutions which have taken place in that island — life, for- 
tune, goods, debts, and every thing else were confiscated. 
The crimen Icesce majestatis, as it is called, involved 
every thing. Every possible punishment has been 
inflicted on suffering humanity that it could endure, by 
the party which had the superiority in those wars, over 
the defeated party, which was charged with rebellion. 
What would have been the consequences, sir, if we had 
been conquered? Were we not fighting against that 
majesty? Would the justice of our opposition have 
been considered? The most horrid forfeitures, confisca- 
tions, and attainders, would have been pronounced 
against us. Consider their history, from the time of 
William the first till this day. Were not his Normans 
gratified with the confiscation of the richest estates in 
England? Read the excessive cruelties, attainders, 
and confiscations, of that reign. England depopulated 
— its inhabitants stripped of the dearest privileges 
of humanity — degraded with the most ignominious 
badges of bondage — and totally deprived of the power 
of resistance to usurpation and tyranny. This ina- 
bility continued to the time of Henry the eighth. 
In his reign, the business of confiscation and attainder 
made considerable havoc. After his reign, some stop 
was put to that effusion of blood which preceded and 
happened under it. Recollect the sad and lamentable 
effects of the York and Lancastrian wars. Remember 
the rancorous hatred and inveterate detestations of con- 
tending factions — the distinction of the white and red 
roses. To come a little lower — what happened in that 
island in the rebellions of 1715 and 1745? If we had 
been conquered, would not our men have shared the 



348 SKETCHES OF THE 

fate of the people of Ireland? A great part of that 
island was confiscated, though the Irish people thought 
themselves engaged in a laudable cause. What confis- 
cation and punishments were inflicted in Scotland? 
The plains of Culloden, and the neighbouring gibbets, 
would show you. I thank heaven that the spirit of 
liberty, under the protection of" the Almighty, saved us 
from experiencing so hard a destiny. But had we been 
subdued, would not every right have been wrested from 
us? What right would have been saved? Would 
debts have been saved? Would it not be absurd to 
save debts, while they should burn, hang, and destroy? 
Before we can decide with precision, we are to consi- 
der the dangers we should have been exposed to had 
we been subdued. After presenting to your view this 
true picture of what would have been our situation, had 
we been subjugated — surely a correspondent right will 
be found, growing out of the law of nations, in our 
favour. Had our subjugation been effected, and we 
pleaded for pardon — represented that we defended the 
most valuable rights of human nature, and thought they 
were wrong — would our petition have availed ? I feel 
myself impelled, from what has past, to ask this ques- 
tion. I would not wish to have lived to see the sad 
scenes we should have experienced. Needy avarice 
and savage cruelty would have had full scope. Hungry 
Germans, blood-thirsty Indians, and nations of another 
colour, would have been let loose upon us. The sad 
effects of such warfare have had their full influence on 
a number of our fellow-citizens. Sir, if you had seen 
the sad scenes which I have known; if you had seen the 
simple but tranquil felicity of helpless and unoffending 
women and children, in little log huts on the frontiers, 
disturbed and destroyed by the sad effects of British 



LIFE OF HENRY. 349 

warfare and Indian butchery, your soul would have 
been struck with horror! Even those helpless women 
and children were the objects of the most shocking 
barbarity. Give me leave again to recur to Vattel, p. 
9. ' Nations, being free, independent, and equal, and 
having a right to judge according to the dictates of 
conscience, of what is to be done in order to fulfil its 
duties; the effect of all this is, the producing, at least 
externally and among men, a perfect equality of rights 
between nations, in the administration of their affairs, 
and the pursuit of their pretensions, without regard to 
the intrinsic justice of their conduct, of which others 
have no right to form a definitive judgment: so that 
what is permitted in one, is also permitted in the other; 
and they ought to be considered in human society as 
having an equal right/ If it be allowed to the British 
nation to put to death, to forfeit and confiscate debts 
and every thing else, may we not (having an equal 
right) confiscate — not life, for we never desire it — but 
that which is the common object of confiscation — 
property, goods, and debts, which strengthen ourselves 
and weaken our enemies? I trust that this short reca- 
pitulation of events shows, that if there ever was in 
the history of man a case requiring the full use of all 
human means, it was our case in the late contest; and 
we were therefore warranted to confiscate the British 
debts/' 

He now takes another ground to establish the 
confiscation. I shall give his whole argument on this 
point in his own words: 

" I beg leave to add that these debts are lost on 
another principle. By the dissolution of the British 
government, America went into a state of nature — on 
the dissolution of that of which we had been members. 



350 SKETCHES OP THE 

there being no government antecedent, we went neces- 
sarily into a state of nature. To prove this, I need 
only refer to the declaration of independence, pro- 
nounced on the fourth day of July 1776, and our state 
constitution." (Here Mr. Henry read part of the con- 
stitution.) " It recites many instances of misrule by the 
king of England — it asserts the right and expediency 
of dissolving the British government, and going into a 
state of nature; or, in other words, to establish a new 
government. The right of dissolving it, and forming 
a new system, had preceded the fourth day of July 1776. 
A recapitulation of the events of the tyrannical acts of 
government would demonstrate a right to dissolve it. 
But I may go farther, and even say, that the act of 
parliament which declared us out of the king's protec- 
tion, dissolved it. For what is government? It is an 
express or implied compact between the rulers and 
ruled, stipulating reciprocal protection and obedience. 
That protection was withdrawn, solemnly withdrawn 
from us. Of consequence, obedience ceased to be due. 
Our municipal rights were taken away by one blow. 
Municipal obligations and government were also taken 
away by the same blow. Well, then, there being no 
antecedent government, we returned into a state of 
nature. Unless we did so, our new compact of govern- 
ment could only be an usurpation. In a state of nature 
there is no legal lien on the person or property of any 
one. If you are not clear of eveiy antecedent engage- 
ment, what is the legality or strength of the present 
constitution of government? If any antecedent engage- 
ments are to bind, how far are they to reach? You had 
no right to form a new government, if the old system 
existed; and if it did not exist, you were necessarily 
and inevitably in a state of nature. In my humble 



LIFE OF HENRY. 351 

opinion, by giving validity to such claims, you destroy 
the very idea of the right to form a new government. 
Vattel calls government the totality of persons, estates, 
and effects, formed by eveiy individual of the new 
society, and that totality represented by the governing 
power. How can the totality exist while an antecedent 
right exists elsewhere? See Grotius, p. 4, which I have 
already read, and note 29: Because the design and 
good of civil society necessarily require, that the natural 
and acquired rights of each member should admit of 
limitations several ways, and to a certain degree, by the 
authority of him or them, in whose hands the sovereign 
authority is lodged. When we formed a new govern- 
ment, did there exist any authority that limited our 
rights? How can the totality exist, if any other person 
or persons have an existing claim upon you ? It appears 
to me, that that equality which is involved in a state of 
nature cannot exist while such claim exists. The court 
will recollect what I have already read out of Vattel, 
in the 1 5 and 1 8 sections. The equality here ascribed 
to independent nations is equally ascribed to men in a 
state of nature. A moral society of persons cannot exist 
without this absolute equality. The existence of indi- 
viduals in a state of nature depends in like manner upon, 
and is inseparable from such equality. 

" Rights, as before mentioned, Vattel, p. 8 and 9, are 
divided into internal and external: of external rights, he 
makes the distinction of perfect and imperfect. I be- 
seech your honours to fix this distinction in your minds. 
The perfect external right only is accompanied with the 
right of constraint. The imperfect right loses that 
quality, and leaves it to the party to comply or not to 
comply with it. When the former government was 



352 SKETCHES OF THE 

dissolved, the American people became indebted to 
nobody. You either owe every thing or nothing — and 
every contract and engagement must be done away, if 
any. In a state of nature you are free and equal. But 
how are you free, if another has a lien on your body? 
Where is your freedom, or your equality with that 
person, who has the right of constraining you? This 
right of constraint implies a complete authority over 
you, but not however to enslave you. This constraint 
is always adequate to the right or obligation. Where 
can you find the possibility of this equality which nature 
gives her sons, if we admit an existing right of constraint? 
If it be a fact, that on the dissolution of the government 
we did enter into a state of nature, (and that we did, I 
humbly judge, cannot be denied, as at that time no 
government existed at all,) it destroys all claim to one 
farthing. This will be found to be true, as well upon the 
ground of equity and good conscience as in law, when 
it is considered, that, when we went into a state Of 
nature, the means of paying debts were taken away from 
us by them; because so far as they had power over us 
they prevented us from getting money to pay debts, 
They interdicted us from the pursuit of profitable 
commerce; from getting gold and silver, the only 
things they would take — they unjustly drove us to this 
extremity. By the concession of the worthy gentleman, 
their attack upon us was unjust. 

" But, then, debts are not subject to confiscation, say 
gentlemen, because there were no inquests, no office 
found for the commonwealth. Has a debt an ear-mark? 
Is it tangible or visible? Has it any discriminating 
quality? Unless tangible or visible, how is it to be ascer- 
tained or distinguished? What does an inquest mean? 



LIFE OP HENRY. 353 

A solemn enquiry by a jury, by ocular examination, 
with other proofs. If an inquest of office were to be 
had of land, a jury could tell the lines and boundaries 
of it, because they may be distinguished from others, 
and its identity may thereby be ascertained. If a horse be 
the object of enquiry, he can be easily distinguished from 
any other horse. In like manner every other article of 
visible property may be subject to inquests; but such a 
thing as an inquest of a debt never existed, as far as 
my legal knowledge extends. What are to be the conse- 
quences, if this proceeding be requisite? You must 
set up a court of inquisition, summon the whole nation, 
and ask every man, how much do you owe? This 
would be productive of endless confusion, perplexity, 
and expense, without the desired effect. The laws of 
war and of nations require no more than that the sove- 
reign power should openly signify its will, that the debts 
be forfeited. There is no particular forensic form 
necessary. The question here is not, whether this 
confiscation be traversed in all the forms of municipal 
regulations. There is a question between Great Britain 
and America similar to that between Alexander and 
the Thebans. Has the sovereign signified his pleasure 
that debts be remitted? A sign is completely sufficient, 
if it be understood by the people. There is a necessity 
of thus speaking the legislative will, that the other party 
may know it, and retaliate; for what is allowed to one, 
is to both parties. This was different from the nature 
of a solemn war. War is lawful or unlawful, according 
to the manner of conducting it. In the prosecution of 
a lawful solemn war, it is necessary that you do not 
depart from certain rules of moderation, honour, and 
humanity, but act according to the usual practice of 
belligerent powers. Did the mother country conduct 

Y V 



354 SKETCHES OF THE 

the war against us in this manner? We did openly say, 
we mean to confiscate your debts, and modify them, 
because they have lost their perfect external quality — 
they are imperfect — we claim that right, as a sovereign 
people, over that species of your property. Sir, it was 
not done in a corner. It was understood by our ene- 
mies. They had a right to retaliate on any species of 
our property they could find. The right of retaliation, 
or just retortion, for equivalent damage on any part of 
an enemy's property, is permitted to every nation. 
What right has the British nation (for if the nation has 
not the right, none of its people have) to demand a 
breach of faith in the American government to its 
citizens? I have already mentioned the engagement of 
the government with its citizens respecting the paper 
money — If you take it, it shall be money. Shall it be 
judged now not to be money? Shall this compact be 
broken for the sake of the British nation? No, sir, 
the language of national law is otherwise. Sir, the 
laws of confiscation and paper money made together 
one system, connected and sanctioned by the legislature, 
on which depended once the fate of our country, 
and on which depend now the happiness, the ease, 
and comfort of thousands of your fellow-citizens. Will 
it not be a breach of the compact with your people, to 
say that the money is not to keep up to its original 
standard in the quality given it by law? What were the 
effects of this system ? What would have been the 
effects, had your citizens been apprized that British 
debts must be paid? Would they have taken the 
money? Would they have deposited the money in the 
loan office, if they had been warned by law, that they 
must deposit it, subject to the future regulations of 
peace; that it should not release them from the ere- 



LIFE OF HENRY. 355 

ditors? However right it may appear now to decry 
the paper money, it would have been fatal then; for 
America might have perished, without the aid and effect 
of that medium. Your citizens, trusting to this com- 
pact, submitted to a number of things almost intolerable 
— impressments and violences on their property — it 
encouraged them to exert themselves in defence of their 
property against the enemy during the war. If the 
debt in the declaration mentioned be recovered, the 
compact is subverted, as respecting the paper money. 
And this subversion is to take effect for the interest of 
those men, whom, by all laws human and divine, we 
were obliged to consider as enemies; men who were 
obliged to comply with the regulations and requisitions 
of their king; and our people will have been labouring, 
not for themselves, but for the benefit of the British 
subject. .When a vessel is in danger in a storm, those 
who abide on board of her, and encounter the dangers 
of the sea to save her, are allowed some little compen- 
sation for salvage, for their fidelity and gallantry in 
endeavouring to prevent her loss; while those who aban- 
don her are entitled to nothing. But, in opposition to 
this wise and politic principle, we, who have withstood 
the storms and dangers, receive no compensation; but 
those who left the political ship, and joined those on the 
other side of the water who wished to sink her, and who 
caused her to fight eight long years for her preservation, 
shall come in at last, and get their full share of this 
vessel, and yet will have been exonerated from every 
charge. For whom, then, were the people of America 
engaged in war? Not for themselves, I am sure — 
the property that they saved will not be for themselves, 
but for those whom they had a right to call enemies. 
I am not willing to ascribe to the meanest American 



356 SKETCHES OF THE 

the love of money, or desire of eluding the payment 
of his debts, as the motive of engaging in the war. 
No, sir. He had nobler and better views. But he 
thinks himself well entitled to those debts, from the 
laws and usages of nations, as a compensation for the 
injuries he has sustained. There is a sad drawback on 
this property saved. A national debt for seventeen 
years, considerable taxes, which were profusely laid 
during the war on lands and slaves; and, since the 
peace, we have been loaded with a heavy taxation. I 
know that I advocate this cause on a very advantageous 
ground, when I speak of the right of salvage. The cargo 
on board the wrecked vessel belongs to the British, 
it will have been saved for them! .but the salvage is 
due to us only. If you take it on the ground of 
interest — you may hold as a pledge — you may retain 
for salvage. If you take it on the scale of the common 
law, or of national law — you may oppose damages to 
debts — retain the debts, to retribute and compensate 
for the injuries they have done you. I have now got 
over and I trust established the first point; that is, that 
debts in common wars are subject to forfeiture, and 
much more so in a revolution war like the American 
war."* 

Having established his first position, he presents his 
next point thus: "My next point is, that the British 
debts being so forfeited (as I conceive) can only be 
revived by the treaty; and unless they be so revived, they 

* These copious extracts from the report on Mr. Henry's first point are 
deemed necessary, to give the reader an idea of his mode of argumentation, 
so far as it can be furnished by this report. It would be trespassing on the 
indulgence of the proprietor of the manuscript, (which has never been 
published,) and trespassing, too, perhaps on the patience of that portion of 
my readers who can find no enjoyment in legal discussion, to pursue any 
farther this extended mode of analysis. 



LIFE OF HENRY. 357 

are gone for ever. I will then consider how this matter 
stands under the treaty." He proceeds then to show by 
authority, the rules by which treaties are to be construed; 
and demonstrates, that a treaty can confer no jbenefit 
unless it be mutually observed with good faith; that 
perfidy, on either side, is a forfeiture of all its advantages; 
that the stipulations of a treaty are in the nature of 
conditions precedent; that a breach on either side 
dissolves the covenant altogether, and places the parties 
on the general ground which they occupied before the 
treaty; that Great Britain had violated the treaty, in the 
moment of its ratification, by carrying off our slaves, 
and detaining with an armed force those posts of which 
she had stipulated the immediate surrender; that the 
pretence of her having acted thus as a retaliatory 
measure for the non-payment of the debts, was an insult 
to common understanding, because she began her 
infractions before any experiment had been made of a 
recovery of the debts; that the notion of a reprisal, 
preceding any injury — and a retaliation, in advance, 
of any wrong on the opposite side, was so far from 
mitigating her offence, that it was a daring insult on the 
honour and good faith of this nation! Having, by a series 
of authorities directly in point, established the right of 
the American nation to regard the treaty as abolished 
by any perfidious infraction of it, on the part of Great 
Britain, he shows next, that those infractions were 
established by the pleadings in the cause; because the 
defendant by his several pleas had specified those 
infractions, and the plaintiff, by demurring to the pleas, 
had admitted the truth of their averments. 

Great Britain then, as a nation, having by her own 
perfidy forfeited all right to insist upon the treaty, and 



358 SKETCHES OF THE 

that treaty, as between the nations, being annulled, the 
next question was, whether any individual of the British 
nation could claim any advantage under the treaty? 
This he shows could not be done, because in making 
the treaty, the sovereigns of the two nations acted 
for all the individuals of their respective nations; 
the individuals were bound by all the acts of those 
sovereigns, whether in making or abolishing a treaty. 
" Here/' said he, " are two moral persons, Great 
Britain and America, making a contract. The plaintiff 
claims and the defendant defends under and through 
them; and if either nation or moral person has no right 
to benefits from such contract, individuals claiming 
under tliem can have none. The plaintiff then claims 
under his nation, but if that nation have committed 
perfidy respecting the observance of the compact, no 
right can be carried therefrom to the plaintiff. It puts 
him back in the same situation he was in before the 
treaty." He shows the absurdity of considering the 
treaty as annulled, in relation to all the individuals, in 
their collective character of a nation, and yet as in full 
force for the benefit of each individual separately; for if 
this plaintiff had a right to all the beneficial effects of 
the treaty, every man in England had the same right; and 
he cites and reads from Vattel, a conclusive authority, 
to show, that the conventional law of nations could take 
its effect only from universal right, extending equally to 
all the citizens or individuals of a nation. But to say, 
that America had a right to consider the treaty as 
void against all the individuals of the British nation, 
collectively, while each and every individual of that nation 
separately, could enforce it upon her, was to offer to the 
understanding a paradoxical absurdity, as insulting to 



LIFE OF HENRY. 359 

common sense, as the conduct of Great Britain had been 
to the honour of the American nation. 

He contended further on this point, that if the treaty 
had been observed by Great Britain, and were of conse- 
quence still obligatory, it did not and could not operate 
where monies had been actually paid into the treasury 
under the laws of the state; for the provision of the treaty 
is, " that creditors on either side should meet with no 
lawful impediment to the recovery of all bona fide debts 
heretofore contracted." The defendant, said he, having 
paid the money into the treasury according to the act of 
assembly, and the truth of the payment being admitted 
in the record, this article of the treaty could not support 
the plaintiffs claim. " To derive a benefit from the 
treaty, the plaintiff must demand a bona fide debt; that 
is, a debt bona fide due. The word debt implies that 
the thing is due; for if it be not due, how can it be a 
debt? To give to these words, all debts heretofore con- 
tracted, a strictly literal sense, would be to authorize a 
renewed demand for debts which had been actually paid 
off to the creditor; for these were certainly within the 
words of the treaty, being debts heretofore contracted: — 
to avoid this absurd and dishonest consequence, you 
must look at the intention of the thing; and the intention 
certainly was to embrace those cases where there had 
not been a legal payment. I ask," said he, " why a 
payment made in gold and silver is a legal payment? 
Because the coin of those metals is made current by 
the laws of this country. If paper be made current by 
the same authority, why should not a payment in it be 
equally valid? The British subject cannot demand 
payment, because I confront his demand with a receipt, 
Why will a receipt discharge in any instance? — because 



360 SKETCHES OF THE 

it is founded on the laws of the country. A receipt, 
given in consequence of a payment in coin, is a legal 
discharge, only because the laws of the country make 
it so. I ask then why a receipt, given in consequence 
of a payment into the treasury, be not of equal validity, 
since it has precisely the same foundation ? It is ex- 
pressly constituted a discharge by a legislature having 
competent authority. This debt, therefore, having been 
legally paid by the contractor, was not due from him at 
the time of making the treaty, and therefore is not 
within the intention of that instrument. But, say the 
gentlemen on the other side, the one payment has the 
consent of the creditor, and the other has notf he who 
paid coin has the creditor's consent to the discharge, but 
he who paid money into the treasury wants it. Have 
we not satisfied this honourable court, that the governing 
power had a right to put itself in the place of the British 
subjects? Having had an unquestionable right to con- 
fiscate, sequester, or modify those debts as they pleased, 
they had an equally indubitable right to substitute 
themselves in the stead of the plaintiff", otherwise those 
authorities have been quoted in vain." He then cites 
authorities to prove, that the law of the place governs 
the contract; and concludes, that the payment into the 
treasury having, in this instance, been made in conse- 
quence of a law of this commonwealth, which was 
strictly consonant with the laws of nations, and which 
had declared that such payment shoidd operate as a 
complete and final discharge, this was not a subsisting 
debt, within the contemplation of the treaty, and 
remained, therefore, wholly unaffected by it. 

The next question was, whether this court could take 
notice of this infraction of the treaty, on the part of 



LIFE OF HENRY. 361 

Great Britain, and* found their judgment upon it. On 
this question, he observes that the court were not 
called upon to step out of their appropriate sphere, in 
order to invade the province of the jury by trying facts; 
the facts were all agreed by the pleadings; the court 
were merely called upon to say what was the law 
arising on those facts. The existence or non-existence 
of the treaty, was a legal inference from the facts 
agreed; which the court alone were competent to 
decide. The plaintiff himself had forced this question 
on the court, by relying in his replication on the treaty, 
as restoring his right to recover this debt. He sets up 
his right under this instrument expressly, and then 
questions the jurisdiction of the court to decide upon 
the instrument! The treaty, quoad hoc, is the covenant 
of the parties in this suit: the question presented by 
the pleadings is, whether the plaintiff, who, by Jhat 
covenant, has taken upon himself the performance of 
a precedent condition, can claim any benefit under it, 
until he shall show that this precedent condition has 
been performed. On this question, said he, the gentle- 
man's argument is, that the court have no power to 
decide on the construction of the covenant, which he 
himself has brought before them ; that they have nothing 
to do with the dependence or independence of the 
stipulations, or the reciprocal rights of the parties, to 
claim under the covenant, without showing a previous 
performance on their respective parts! He, on the con- 
trary, insisted that, under the constitution of the United 
States, the question belonged, peculiarly and exclu- 
sively, to the judicial department; that by the consti- 
tution it was expressly provided, that the judicial power 
should extend to all cases arising under treaties; that 
the law of treaties embraced the whole extent of natural 

z z 



362 SKETCHES OP THE 

and national law; that the constitution, therefore, by 
referring all cases arising under treaties to the judi- 
ciary, had of necessity invested them with the power 
of appealing to that code of laws, by which alone the 
construction, the operation, the efficacy, the legal ex- 
istence or non-existence of treaties, must be tested: and 
by this code, they were told in the most emphatic terms, 
that he who violates one article of a treaty, releases 
the other party from the performance of any part of it; 
that the reference of all cases arising under treaties, to 
the judicial department, carried with it every power 
near or remote, direct or collateral, which was essential 
to a fair and just decision of those cases; — that in every 
such case, the very first question was, is there a treaty 
or not? — not whether there has been a treaty — but 
whether there is an existing, obligatory, operative 
treaty. To decide this question the court must bring 
the facts to the standard of the laws of nations; and by 
this standard it had been shown, that in the case at 
bar, there existed no treaty from which a British sub- 
ject could claim any benefit. That if the judicial de- 
partment had not the power of deciding this question, 
there was no department in the American government 
which did possess it: the state governments have 
nothing to do with it — congress cannot touch the sub- 
ject— they may indeed declare war for a violation; but 
a nation was not to be forced to this extremity on every 
occasion; there were other modes of redress, short of 
a declaration of war, to which nations had a right to 
resort; and one of them, as he had shown, was the power 
of withholding from the perfidious violator of a treaty, 
those benefits which he claimed under it. Now, con- 
gress could not by a law declare a treaty void — it is not 
among those grants of power which the constitution 



LIFE OF HENRY. 363 

makes to them; they cannot, therefore, meddle with 
the subject in any other way than by a declaration of 
war; neither can the president and senate touch it. They 
can make treaties; but the constitution gives them no 
power to expound a treaty; much less to declare it void: 
they can only unite with the house of representatives, 
in punishing an infraction by a declaration of war. To 
the judiciary alone, then, belongs this pacific power 
of withholding legal benefits, claimed under a treaty, 
because of the mala fides of the party claiming them. 
Now, what will be the situation of this country, com- 
pared with that of Great Britain, if you deny this power 
to the judiciary? If you have not observed the treaty 
with good faith, and go to England, claiming any 
benefit under the treaty, there is a power there, called 
royal prerogative, which will tell you — no — go home 
and act honestly, and you shall have your rights under 
the treaty. Your breach of faith will not drive them to 
a declaration of war^-there is a power there which 
obtains redress by withholding your rights, until you 
act with good faith: but where is the reciprocal and 
corresponding power in our government, if it be not 
in the judiciary? It is no where; — we have no redress 
short of a declaration of war. Is this one of the pre- 
cious fruits of the adoption of the federal constitution, 
to bind us hand and foot with the fetters of technicality, 
and leave us no way of bursting them asunder, but by a 
declaration of war, and the effusion of human blood! 
It was never intended. The wisdom and virtue which 
framed the constitution could never have intended to 
place the country in this humiliating and awful predica- 
ment. Give to this power of deciding on treaties, 
which is delegated to the federal judiciary, a liberal 
construction — give them all the incidental powers. 



364 SKETCHES OF THE 

necessary to carry it into effect — open to them the whole 
region of natural and national law, which furnish the 
only rule of expounding those national compacts, called 
treaties, and your government is unmutilated, its mea- 
sure of power is full up to the exigencies of the 
nation, and you treat on equal terms: but upon the 
opposite construction, much better would it be that 
America should have no treaties at all, than that hav- 
ing them, she should want those means of enforcement 
and redress which all other nations possess." 

Having thus established that debts are subject to con- 
fiscation in common wars, and much more so in the 
war of the revolution — that Virginia was an independ- 
ent nation, and, as such, competent to the exercise of 
this right of eminent domain — of taking to herself the 
debts of her enemies — that she had in fact exercised 
this right, and that this debt had, under one of her laws 
of that character, been legally discharged — that the 
treaty had no effect in reviving the claim, because the 
treaty had been annulled by the infractions of it on the 
part of Great Britain — and because if it had not, this was 
not a subsisting debt, within the purview of the treaty 
— and, finally, that the court's jurisdiction extended 
to every question touching the continuance or annul- 
ment of treaties. He said, he had now finished his 
own view of the subject, and should have taken his 
seat, but for the necessity of giving a particular an- 
swer to the various objections to these principles, 
which had been so ably urged by the counsel for the 
plaintiff. In this part of his subject he shows the most 
masterly acuteness, address, and vigour. A gentleman 
who was present,* has described some of the circum- 

* The late Mr. Hardin Burnley. 



LIFE OF HENRY. 365 

stances of his manner, with a very interesting minute- 
ness. " Mr. Henry," he said, " had taken ample notes 
of the arguments of his adversaries: the people would 
give him his own time to examine his notes, and select 
the argument pr remark that he meant to make the 
subject of his comments, observing in these pauses the 
most profound silence. If the answer which he was 
about to give was a short one, he would give it, without 
removing his spectacles from his nose — but if he was 
ever seen to give his spectacles a cant to the top of his 
wig, it was u declaration of ivar, and his adversaries 
must stand clear." 

I propose to give a few specimens only of his mode 
of answering the arguments of the opposing counsel. 
It had been urged by them, that the laws of nations 
had declared only the estate of an alien enemy liable 
to confiscation — but that debts were mere rights — 
choses in action — and therefore not of a confiscable 
character. His answer to this is a happy mixture of 
ridicule and argument. It is short, and I shall give it 
in his own words. 

" But a chose in action is not liable to forfeiture. 
Why? Because it is too terrible to be done. There is 
such a thing as sfraining at a gnat, and swallowing a 
camel. Things much more terrible have been done — 
things, from which our nature, where it has any 
pretensions *to be pure and correct, must recoil with 
horror. Show me those laws which forfeit your life, 
attaint your blood, and beggar your wife and children. 
Those sanguinary and inhuman laws, to which every 
thing valuable must yield, are to be found in the code of 
that people, under whom the plaintiff now claims. Is 
it so terrible to confiscate debts, when they forfeit life, 
and corrupt the very source of your blood? Though 



366 SKETCHES OF THE 

every other thing dear to humanity is forfeitable, yet 
debts, it seems, must be spared! Debts are too sacred 
to be touched! It is a mercantile idea, that worships 
Mammon instead of God. A chose in action shall pass 
— it is without your reach. What authority can they 
adduce in support of such conclusive pre-eminence for 
debts? No political or human institution has placed them 
above other things. If debt be the most sacred of all 
earthly obligations, I am uninformed from whence it has 
derived that eminence. The principle is to be found 
in the day books, journals, and ledgers of merchants; 
not in the writings or reasonings of the wise and well 
informed — the enlightened instructors of mankind. Can 
any gentleman show me any instance, where the life 
or property of a gentleman or plebeian in England is 
forfeited, and yet his debts spared? The state can 
claim debts due to one guilty of high treason. Are they 
not subject to confiscation? I concur in that sound 
principle, that good faith is essential to the happiness of 
mankind; that its want stops all human intercourse, and 
renders us miserable. This principle is permanent, and 
universal. Look to what point of the compass you 
will, you will find it pervading all nations. Who does 
not set down its sacred influence as the only thing that 
comforts human life? Does the plaintiff claim through 
good faith? How does he derive his claim? Through 
perfidy: through a polluted channel. Every thing of 
that kind would have come better from our side of the 
question, than from theirs." 

Mr. Ronald had insisted, strenuously, that there could 
be no forfeiture or escheat without the inquest of a jury; 
and that no act of the legislature had, in fact, directly 
forfeited these debts. In answer to this, Mr. Henry 
says, " But the gentleman has observed, that neither the 



LIFE OF HENRY. 367 

declaration of the legislature by the act of 1 779, that 
the British subjects had become aliens, and their pro- 
perty vested in the commonwealth, nor any other act 
passed on the subject, could divest the debts out of 
the British creditors. It cannot be done without the 
solemnity of an enquiry by a jury. The debt of A or B 
cannot be given to C, without this solemnity. Is the 
little legality of forms, which are necessary when you 
speak of estates and titles, requisite on such mighty 
occasions as these? When the fate of a nation is con- 
cerned, you are to speak the language of nature. When 
your very existence is at stake, are you to speak the 
technical language of books, and to be confined to the 
limited rules of technical criticism? — to those tricks 
and quirks — those little twists and twirls of low chica- 
nery and sophistry, which are so beneficial to profes- 
sional men? Alexander said, in the style of that mighty 
man to the Thessalians, You are free from the Thebans, 
and the debts they owed them were thereby remitted. 
Every other sovereign has the same right to use the 
same natural, manly, and laconic language; not when 
he is victorious only, but in every situation, if he be 
in a state of hostility with other nations. The acts 
use not the language of technicality, they speak not of 
releases, discharges, and acquittances; but they speak 
the legislative will, in simple speech, to the human 
understanding — a style better suited to the purpose, 
than the turgid and pompous phraseology of many great 
writers." 

Mi\ Ronald, who was a native of Scotland, and at the 
commencement of the revolutionary war at least, had 
been suspected of being not very warm in the American 
cause, had urged the objection to the national compe- 
tency of Virginia, ' at the time of the passage of those 



368 SKETCHES OF THE 

laws of confiscation and forfeiture, on which the de- 
fendant relied; and in the course of his observations, 
had unfortunately used the remark, that Virginia was, 
at that time, nothing more than a revolted colony. 
When Mr. Henry came to notice this remark, he gave 
his spectacles the ivar cant: " But another observation," 
said he, "was made; that by the law of nations we 
had not a right to legislate on the subject of British 
debts — we were not an independent nation — and I 
thought," said he, raising himself aloft, while his frame 
dilated itself beyond the ordinary size, " that I heard 
the word — revolt!" At this word, he turned upon Mr. 
Ronald his piercing eye, and knit his brows at him, 
with an expression of indignation and contempt, which 
seemed almost to annihilate him. It was like a stroke 
of lightning. Mr. Ronald shrunk from the withering 
look: and, pale and breathless, cast down his eyes, 
" seeming," says my informant, " to be in quest of an 
auger hole, by which he might drop through the floor, 
and escape for ever from mortal sight." Mr. Henry 
perceived his suffering, and his usual good nature 
immediately returned to him. He raised his eyes gently 
towards the court, and shaking his head, slowly, with 
an expression of regret, added, " I wish I had not 
heard it: for although innocently meant (and I am sure 
that it was so, from the character of the gentleman 
who mentioned it) yet the sound displeases me — it is 
unpleasant." Mr. Ronald breathed again, and looked 
up, and his generous adversary dismissed the topic, to 
resume it no more. 

It may give the reader some idea of the amplitude of 
this argument, when he is told that Mr. Henry was 
engaged three days successively in its delivery; and some 
faint conception of the enchantment which he threw 



LIFE OF HENRY. 369 

over it, when he learns that although it turned entirely 
on questions of law, yet the audience, mixed as it was, 
seemed so far from being wearied, that they followed 
him throughout with increased enjoyment. The room 
continued full to the last; and such was " the listening 
silence" with which he was heard, that not a syllable 
that he uttered is believed to have been lost. When he 
finally sat down, the concourse rose, with a general mur- 
mur of admiration; the scene resembled the breaking 
up and dispersion of a great theatrical assembly, 
which had been enjoying, for the first time, the 
exhibition of some new and splendid drama: the 
speaker of the house of delegates was at length able 
to command a quomm for business; and every quar- 
ter of the city, and at length, every part of the 
state, was filled with the echoes of Mr. Henry's 
eloquent speech. 

His practice, during these last years, of which we 
are now speaking, was confined pretty generally to 
cases of consequence. He did not like the profession, 
and was not willing to embark in any case for the 
ordinary fees. I have an interesting sketch of him, in 
his professional character, during those years, from the 
same elegant pen, which in a former page exhibits the 
parallel between him and Mr. Lee, in 1784: it is as 
follows: 

"At the bar Mr. Henry was eminently successful. 
When I saw him there, he must, from the course of his 
life, which had been chiefly political, have become 
somewhat rusty in the learning of his profession: yet I 
considered him as a good lawyer: he seemed to be well 
acquainted with the rules and canons of property. He 
would not, indeed, undergo the drudgery necessary for 



370 SKETCHES OF THE 

complicated business; yet I am told, that in the British 
debt cause, he astonished the public not less by the mat- 
ter than the manner of his speech. It was however as 
a criminal lawyer that his eloquence had the fairest 
scope, and in that character I have seen him. He 
was perfect master of the passions of his auditory, 
whether in the tragic or comic line. The tones of his 
voice, to say nothing of his matter and gesture, were 
insinuated into the feelings of his hearers, in a manner 
that baffles all description. It seemed to operate by 
mere sympathy; and by his tones alone, it seemed to me, 
that he could make you cry or laugh at pleasure. I will 
endeavour to give you some account of this tragic and 
comic effect in two instances, which I witnessed." 

"About the year 1792, one Holland killed a young 
man in Botetourt. The young man was popular, and 
lived, I think, with Mr. King, a wealthy merchant in 
Fincastle, who employed Mr. John Brackenridge to 
assist in the prosecution of Holland. This Holland 
had gone up from the county of Louisa as a school- 
master, but had turned out badly, and was unpopular. 
The killing was in the night, and was generally believed 
to be murder. He was the son of one doctor Holland, 
who was yet living in Louisa, and had been one of Mr. 
Henry's juvenile friends and acquaintances. It was 
chiefly at the instance of the father, and for a very mo- 
derate fee, that Mr. Henry undertook to go out to the 
district court of Greenbrier, to defend the prisoner. 
Such were the prejudices there, that the people had 
openly and repeatedly declared that even Patrick 
Henry need not come to defend Holland, unless he 
brought a jury with him. On the day of trial, the 
court house was crowded. I did not move from my 
seat for fourteen hours; and had no wish to do so. 



LIFE OF HENRY. 371 

The examination of the witnesses took up great part 
of the time, and the lawyers were probably exhausted. 
Brackenridge was eloquent; but Henry left no dry eye 
in the court house. The case I believe was murder; 
though, possibly, manslaughter only. Mr. Henry laid 
hold of this possibility with such effect as to make all 
forget that Holland had killed the store-keeper at all; 
and presented the deplorable case of the jury's killing 
Holland, an innocent man. By that force of descrip- 
tion which he possessed in so wonderful a degree, he 
exhibited, as it were, at the clerk's table, old Holland 
and his wife, who were then in Louisa; but the draw- 
ing was so powerful, and so true to nature, that we 
seemed to see them before us, and to hear them asking 
of the jury, 'where is our son? what have you done 
with him?' All this was done in a manner so solemn 
and touching, and a tone so irresistible, that it was im- 
possible for the stoutest heart not to take sides with the 
criminal: as for the jury, they lost sight of the murder 
they were trying, and wept most profusely, with old 
Holland and his wife, whom Mr. Henry painted, and 
perhaps proved to be very respectable. During the 
examination of the evidence, the bloody clothes had 
been brought in. Mr. Henry objected to their ex- 
hibition, and applied most forcibly and pathetically 
Anthony's remark on Caesar's wounds, on those dumb 
mouths which would raise the stones of Rome to 
mutiny. He urged that this sight^would totally deprive 
the jury of their judgment, which would be merged in 
their feelings. The court was divided, and the motion 
fell. The result of the trial was, that after the retire- 
ment of an half or quarter of an hour, the jury brought 
in a verdict of not guilty; but on being reminded by 
the court that they might find a degree of homicide, 



372 SKETCHES OP THE 

inferior to murder, they altered their verdict to guilty 
of manslaughter." 

" Mr. Henry was not less successful in the comic 
line, when it became necessary to resort to it. You have 
no doubt heard how he defeated John Hook, by raising 
the cry of beef against him. I will give you a similar 
instance. In the year 1792, there were many suits on 
the south side of James river, for inflicting Lynch's 
law.* A verdict of five hundred pounds had been given 
in Prince Edward district court, in a case of this kind. 
This alarmed the defendant in the next case, who em- 
ployed Mr. Henry to defend him. The case was, that 
a waggoner and the plaintiff were travelling to Rich- 
mond together, when the waggoner knocked down a 
turkey, and put it into his waggon. Complaint was 
made to the defendant, a justice of the peace; both the 
parties were taken up, and the waggoner agreed to take 
a whipping, rather than be sent to jail: but the plaintiff 
refused: the justice, however, gave him also a small 
flagellation; and for this the suit was brought. The plain- 
tiff, by way of taking off the force of the defence, insisted, 
that he was wholly innocent of the act committed. Mr. 
Henry, on the contrary, contended, that he was a party, 
present, aiding and assisting. In the course of his 
remarks, he expressed himself thus: 'But, gentlemen 
of the jury, the plaintiff tells you he had nothing to do 
with the turkey — I dare say, gentlemen, not until it ivas 
roasted/ &c. He pronounced this word roasted with 
such rotundity of voice, such a ludicrous whirl of the 



* Thirty-nine lashes, inflicted without trial or law, on mere suspicion of 
guilt, which could not be regularly proven. This lawless practice, which, 
sometimes by the order of a magistrate, sometimes without, prevailed exten- 
sively in the upper counties on James river, took its name from the gentle- 
man who set the first example of it. 



LIFE OF HENRY. 373 

longue, and in a manner so indescribably comical, thai 
it threw every one into a fit of laughter at the plaintiff] 
who stood up in the place usually allotted to criminals; 
and the defendant was let off, with little or no da- 
mages." 

The case of John Hook, to which my correspondent 
alludes, is worthy of insertion. Hook was a Scotchman, 
a man of wealth, and suspected of being unfriendly to 
the American cause. During the distresses of the 
American army, consequent on the joint invasion of 
Cornwallis and Phillips in 1781, a Mr. Venable, an army 
commissary, had taken two of Hook's steers for the use 
of the troops. The act had not been strictly legal; and 
on the establishment of peace, Hook, under the advice 
of Mr. Cowan, a gentleman of some distinction in the 
law, thought proper to bring an action of trespass against 
Mr. Venable, in the district court of New London. Mr. 
Henry appeared for the defendant, and is said to have 
disported himself in this cause to the infinite enjoyment 
of his hearers, the unfortunate Hook always excepted. 
After Mr. Henry became animated in the cause, says a 
correspondent,* he appeared to have complete control 
over the passions of his audience: at one time he 
excited their indignation against Hook: vengeance was 
visible in every countenance: again, when he chose to 
relax and ridicule him, the whole audience was in a 
roar of laughter. He painted the distresses of the 
American army, exposed almost naked to the rigour of 
a winter's sky, and marking the frozen ground over 
which they marched, with the blood of their unshod 
feet; where was the man, he said, who had an Ameri- 
can heart in his bosom, who would not have thrown 

* Judge Stuart 



374 SKETCHES OF THE 

open his fields, his barns, his cellars, the doors of his 
house, the portals of his breast, to have received with 
open arms, the meanest soldier in that little band of 
famished patriots? Where is the man? — There he 
stands — but whether the heart of an American beats 
in his bosom, you, gentlemen, are to judge. He then 
carried the jury, by the powers of his imagination, to 
the plains around York, the surrender of which had 
followed shortly after the act complained of: he depicted 
the surrender in the most glowing and noble colours of 
his eloquence — the audience saw before their eyes the 
humiliation and dejection of the British, as they march- 
ed out of their trenches — they saw the triumph which 
lighted up every patriot face, and heard the shouts of 
victory, and the cry of Washington and liberty, as it 
rung and echoed through the American ranks, and was 
reverberated from the hills and shores of the neighbour- 
ing river — " but, hark, what notes of discord are these 
which disturb the general joy, and silence the acclama- 
tions of victory — they are the notes of John Hook, 
hoarsely bawling through the American camp, beef! 
beef! beefr 

The whole audience were convulsed: a particular 
incident will give a better idea of the effect, than any 
general description. The clerk of the court, unable to. 
command himself, and unwilling to commit any breach 
of decorum in his place, rushed out of the court house, 
and threw himself on the grass, in the most violent 
paroxysm of laughter, where he was rolling, when 
Hook, with very different feelings, came out for relief, 
into the yard also. "Jemmy Steptoe," said he to the 
clerk, "what the devil ails ye, mon?" Mr. Steptoe 
was only able to say, that he could not help it. " Never 
mind ye," said Hook, "wait till billy Cowan gets up: 



LIFE OF HENRY. 375 

he'll slww him the la'." • Mr. Cowan, however, was so 
completely overwhelmed by the torrent which bore 
upon his client, that when he rose to reply to Mr. 
Henry, he was scarcely able to make an intelligible or 
audible remark. The cause was decided almost by 
acclamation. The jury retired for form sake, and 
instantly returned with a verdict for the defendant. 
Nor did the effect of Mr. Henry's speech stop here. 
The people were so highly excited by the tory audacity 
of such a suit, that Hook began to hear around him a 
cry more terrible than that of beef: it was the cry of 
tar and feathers: from the application of which, it is 
said, that nothing saved him but a precipitate flight 
and the speed of his horse. 

I have not attempted, in the course of these sketches, 
to follow Mr. Henry through his professional career. I 
have no materials to justify such an attempt. It has 
been, indeed, stated to me, in general, that he appeared 
in such and such a case, and that he shone with great 
lustre; but neither his speeches in those cases, nor any 
point of his argument, nor even any brilliant passage 
has been communicated, so that the sketch that could 
be given of them must be either confined to a meagre 
catalogue of the causes, or the canvass must be filled 
up by my own fancy, which would at once be an act of 
injustice to Mr. Henry, and a departure from that 
historical veracity, which it has been my anxious study, 
in every instance, to observe. 

I have been told, for example, that in the year 1774, 
Mr. Hemy appeared at the bar of the general court, 
in defence of a married man by the name of Henry 
Bullard, indicted for the murder of a beautiful girl, 
who lived in his house, to whom he had unfortunately 
become attached, and whom, in a moment of frantic 



376 SKETCHES OP THE 

despair, he sacrificed to his hopeless passion. The 
defence is said to have been placed on the ground of 
insanity ; and it is easy to conceive, in general, the figure 
which Mr. Henry must have made in such a cause. 
Those pathetic powers of eloquence, in which he was 
so pre-eminently great, had ample scope for their exer- 
cise in this case; and we can credit, without difficulty, 
the assertion, that he deluged the house with tears, and 
effected the acquittal of his client. But this is all that 
we know of the case.* 

So also I learn that, on some occasion, after the war, 
he appeared at the bar of the house of delegates, in sup- 
port of a petition of the officers of the Virginia line, who 
sought to be placed on the footing of those who had 
been taken on continental establishment: and that, after 
having depicted their services and their sufferings, in 
colours which filled every heart with sympathy and 
gratitude, he dropped on his knees, at the bar of the 
house, and presented such an appeal as might almost 
have softened rocks, and bent the knotted oak. Yet 
no vestige of this splendid speech remains; nor have I 
been able, after the most diligent enquiries, to ascer- 
tain the year in which it occurred; similar peti- 
tions having been presented, for several successive 
sessions. 

It was in the year 1794, that he bade a final adieu 
to his profession, and retired to the bosom of his own 
family. He retired, loaded with honours, public and 
professional: and carried with him, the admiration, the 

* If this is the case of Henry Bullard, who was indicted at the April term 
of 1774, for the murder of Mary Pinner, this honour claimed by my corre- 
spondent for Mr. Henry is not due ; for the records of the general court 
show, that the indictment, although originally drawn for the charge of mur- 
der, was reduced to manslaughter by the grand jury ; of which offence the 
prisoner was convicted. There is, probably, some mistake in the name. 



LIFE OF HENRY. 377 

gratitude, the confidence, and the love of his country. 
No man had ever passed through so long a life of public 
service, with a reputation more perfectly unspotted. 
Nor had Mr. Henry, on any occasion, sought security 
from censure, by that kind of prudent silence and 
temporizing neutrality, which politicians so frequently 
observe. On the contrary, his course had been uniformly 
active, bold, intrepid, and independent. On every great 
subject of public interest, the part which he had taken 
was open, decided, manly; his country saw his motives, 
heard his reasons, approved his conduct, rested upon his 
virtue, and his vigour; and contemplated, with amaze- 
ment, the evolution and unremitted display of his tran- 
scendent talents. For more than thirty years he had 
now stood before that country — open to the scrutiny 
and the censure of the invidious — yet he retired, not 
only without spot or blemish, but with all his laurels 
blooming full and fresh upon him — followed by the 
blessings of his almost adoring countrymen, and cheered 
by that most exquisite of all earthly possessions — the 
consciousness of having, in deed and in truth, played 
well his part He had now too, become disembarrassed 
of debt; his fortune was affluent; and he enjoyed, in his 
retirement, that ease and dignity, which no man ever 
more richly deserved. 



Sb 



378 SKETCHES OF THE 



SECTION X. 

Whatever difference of opinion may exist as to 
other parts of his character, in this the concurrence 
is universal; that there never was a man better con- 
stituted than Mr. Henry to enjoy and to adorn the 
retirement on which he had now entered. Nothing 
can be more amiable, nothing more interesting and 
attaching, than those pictures which have been furnished 
from every quarter, without one dissentient stroke of the 
pencil, of this great and virtuous man in the bosom of 
private life. Mr. Jefferson says, that " he was the best 
humoured companion in the world." His disposition 
was indeed all sweetness — his affections were warm, 
kind, and social — his patience invincible — his temper 
ever unclouded, cheerful, and serene — his manners 
plain, open, familiar, and simple — his conversation easy, 
ingenuous, and unaffected — full of entertainment, full 
of instruction, and irradiated with all those light and 
softer graces, which his genius threw, without effort, 
over the most common subjects. It is said that there 
stood in the court, before his door, a large walnut 
tree, under whose shade it was his delight to pass 
his summer evenings, surrounded by his affectionate 
and happy family, and by a circle of neighbours who 
loved him almost to idolatry. Here he would disport 
himself with all the careless gaiety of infancy. Here, 
too, he would sometimes warm the bosoms of the old, 
and strike fire from the eyes of his younger hearers, by 
recounting the tales of other times; by sketching, with 
the boldness of a master's hand, those great historic 



LIFE OP HENRY. 379 

incidents in which he had borne a part; and by 
drawing to the life, and placing before his audience, 
in colours as fresh and strong as those of nature, the 
many illustrious men in every quarter of the continent, 
with whom he had acted a part on the public stage. 
Here, too, he would occasionally discourse with all the 
wisdom and all the eloquence of a Grecian sage, of the 
various duties and offices of life; and pour forth those 
lessons of practical utility, with which long experience 
and observation had stored his mind. Many were the 
visitors from a distance, old and young, who came on a 
kind of pious pilgrimage, to the retreat of the veteran 
patriot, and found him thus delightfully and usefully 
employed — the old to gaze upon him with long remem- 
bered affection, and ancient gratitude — the young, the 
ardent, and the emulous, to behold and admire, with 
swimming eyes, the champion of other days, and to 
look with a sigh of generous regret, upon that height of 
glory which they could never hope to reach. Blessed 
be the shade of that venerable tree — ever hallowed the 
spot which his genius has consecrated! Mr. Henry 
received these visits with all his characteristic plainness 
and modesty; and never failed to reward the fatigue 
of the journey by the warmest welcome, and by the 
unceremonious and fascinating familiarity, with which 
he would at once enter into conversation with his 
new guests, and cause them to forget that they were 
strangers, or abroad. Nor must the reader suppose 
that in these conversations he assumed any airs of 
superiority; much less that his conversation was, as in 
some of our conspicuous men, a continued, imperious, 
and didactic lecture. On the contrary, he carried into 
private life all those principles of equality which had 
governed him in public. That ascendency, indeed, 



380 SKETCHES OF THE 

which proceeded from the superior energy of his mind, 
and the weight of his character, would manifest itself 
unavoidably, in the deference of his companions; but 
there was nothing in his manner which would have 
ever reminded them of it. On the contrary, it seemed 
to be his study to cause them to forget it, and to decoy 
them into a free and equal interchange of thought. If 
he took the lead in conversation, it was not because 
he sought it; but because it was forced upon him, by 
that silent delight with which he perceived that his 
company preferred to listen to him. 

But it was in the bosom of his own family, where the 
eye of every visitor and even every neighbour was shut 
out — where neither the love of fame, nor the fear of 
censure, could be suspected of throwing a false light 
upon his character — it was in that very scene, in which 
it has been said that " no man is a hero," that Mr. 
Henry's heroism shone with the most engaging beauty. 
It was to his wife, to his children, to his servants, that 
his true character was best known: to this grateful, 
devoted, happy circle, were best known the patient and 
tender forbearance, the kind indulgence, the forgiving 
mildness, and sweetness of his spirit, those pure and 
warm affections, which were always looking out for the 
means of improving their felicity, and that watchful 
prudence and circumspection, which guarded them from 
harm. What can be more amiable than the playful 
tenderness with which he joined in the sports of his little 
children, and the boundless indulgence with which he 
received and returned their caresses? "His visitors," 
says one of my correspondents, " have not unfrequently 
caught him lying on the floor, with a group of these little 
ones, climbing over him in every direction, or dancing 
around him, with obstreperous mirth, to the tune of his 



LIFE OF HENRY. 381 

violin, while the only contest seemed to be who should 
make the most noise." If there be any bachelor so cold 
of heart as to be offended at this anecdote, I can only 
remind him of the remark of the great Agesilaus to 
the friend who found him riding on a stick among his 
children, " don't mention it, till you are yourself a 

fatfm" 

Such were the scenes of domestic and social bliss, 
such the delicious tranquillity, in which Mr. Henry 
passed the first years of his retirement. Yet this re- 
treat, which so well deserved to have been considered 
as sacred, was doomed in a few years to be disturbed 
by the bickerings of political party. 

Since Mr. Henry's retirement from public life, new 
parties had arisen in the United States, whose animosi- 
ties had been carried to an alarming height. The fede- 
ralists, who supported the measures of the new govern- 
ment throughout, were accused by their adversaries of 
a disposition to strain the constructive powers of the 
constitution to their highest possible pitch; of a secret 
wish to convert the government into a substantial 
monarchy, at least; to which purpose, the assumption of 
state debts, the establishment of the funding system, 
and of the national bank, the alarming increase of the 
public debt, the imposition of a heavy load of internal 
taxes, the establishment of an army and a navy, with all 
their consequences of favouritism and extensive executive 
patronage, were alleged to have been introduced. 
They were branded with the name of aristocrats, a 
name of reproach borrowed from the parties in France; 
and were charged with being inimical to the cause 
of human liberty, as was said to be proven by their 
hostility to the progress of the French revolution, as 



382 SKETCHES OF THE 

well as by the alarming character of those measures 
which they were pushing forward in America. They 
were suspected and accused of a preference for a go- 
vernment of ranks and orders, and a secret love of titles 
of nobility; of which it was said, one of their principal 
leaders had furnished a decisive proof, so far as he was 
concerned, by having proposed the introduction of titles 
in the continental convention which had framed the 
constitution. The party which urged these charges, 
took the name of republicans and democrats; declared 
themselves the friends of liberty and the people, and the 
firm advocates of a government of_ the .people hyJhfl. 
people. They were devoted, with enthusiasm, to the 
cause of liberty in France; considered man, as the only 
title of nobility which ought to be admitted, and his 
freedom and happiness as the sole objects of govern- 
ment; this, they contended, was the principle on which 
the American revolution had turned; that the great 
objects of the revolution could be no otherwise attained, 
than by a simple, pure, economical, and chaste admi- 
nistration of the federal government; and by restricting 
the several departments, under the new constitution, to 
the express letter of the powers assigned to them by that 
instrument. 

The federalists, on the other hand, denied and re- 
pelled, with great acrimony and vehemence, the charges 
which had been urged against them by their adversa- 
ries. They contended that the measures complained 
of were warranted by the constitution, and were neces- 
sary to give to the federal government the effect which 
was intended by its adoption. They insisted that they 
were simply the friends of order and good government; 
and in their turn branded their adversaries with the 



LIFE OF HEtfRY. 383 

name of jacobins, who having caught the mania from 
France, were for overturning all government, and 
throwing every thing into anarchy and uproar, in the 
hope of rising themselves to the top of the chaos. They 
alleged that the opposition was formed of the dregs of 
the American people, headed and goaded on by a few 
designing men, and fermented into faction by the revo- 
lutionary elements thrown among them, from abroad, 
in the shape of French and Irish emigrants and con- 
victs. They insisted, that it was indispensably neces- 
sary to the peace and order of the American nation, 
that those foreign incendiaries should be driven out 
from the land, and that the licentious fury of our own 
populace also should be bridled. Under this impres- 
sion, were passed those alien and sedition laws, which 
are supposed to have put an end to the federal power in 
America. 

It is not my function to decide between these 
parties; nor do I feel myself qualified for such an office. 
I have lived too near the times, and am conscious of hav- 
ing been too strongly excited by the feelings of the day, 
to place myself in the chair of the arbiter. It would, 
indeed, be no difficult task to present, under the en- 
gaging air of historic candour, the arguments on one 
side, in an attitude so bold and commanding; and to 
exhibit those on the other, under a form so faint and 
shadowy, as to beguile the reader into the adoption of 
my own opinions. But this would be unjust to the 
opposite party, and a disingenuous abuse of the confi- 
dence of the reader. Let us, then, remit the question 
to the historian of future ages; who, if the particular 
memory of the past times shall not be lost in those 
great events which seem preparing for the nation, 



384 SKETCHES OF THE 

will probably decide, that, as in most family quarrels, 
both parties have been somewhat in the wrong. 

For my purpose, it is sufficient to state the rise 
and existence of those parties, and the fact that their 
collision had convulsed the whole society. Mr. Henry, 
although removed from the immediate scene of conten- 
tion, was still an object of too much consequence to be 
viewed with indifference. He had a weight of charac- 
ter which gave to his opinions a preponderating influ- 
ence on every subject, and both parties were equally 
anxious to gain him to their cause. His expressions 
were watched with the most anxious attention, and it 
was not long before an alarm of his defection from the 
popular cause was given. The first occasion of it 
I discover, was the treaty of 1 794 with Great Britain, 
commonly known by the name of Jay's treaty. 

It will be remembered by the reader, that Mr. Henry 
had objected to the constitution on the ground that it 
gave to the president and senate, the whole treaty-mak- 
ing power. This construction of the instrument was 
not denied in the state convention; but on the contrary, 
was at least impliedly admitted; and the provision was 
vindicated on the ground that the power of treating 
could be no where more safely and properly lodged. 
When, therefore, the republican leaders in the house of 
representatives claimed a right to participate in the 
ratification of Jay's treaty, Mr. Henry considered them 
as inconsistent with themselves, and as departing from 
their own construction of the constitution. This charge 
and the defence, have both been made known to me, 
by the following letter from Mr. Henry to his daughter, 
Mrs. Aylett: 



LIFE OF HENRI". 385 

" Red Hill, August 20th, 1796. 

• My dear Betsy, 

"Mr. William Aylett's arrival here, with your 
letter, gave me the pleasure of hearing of your welfare, 
and to hear of that is highly gratifying to me, as I so 
seldom see you, &c. (the rest of this paragraph relates 
to family affairs.) 

" As to the reports you have heard of my changing 
sides in politics, I can only say they are not true. I am 
too old to exchange my former opinions, which have 
grown up into fixed habits of thinking. True it is, 
I have condemned the conduct of our members in 
congress, because, in refusing to raise money for the 
purposes of the British treaty, they, in effect, would 
have surrendered our country bound, hand and foot, to 
the power of the British nation. This must have been 
the consequence, I think; but the reasons for thinking 
so are too tedious to trouble you with. The treaty is, 
in my opinion, a very bad one indeed. But what must 
I think of those men, whom I myself warned of the 
danger of giving the power of making laws by means of 
treaty, to the president and senate, when I see these 
same men denying the existence of that power, which 
they insisted in our convention, ought properly to be 
exercised by the president and senate, and by none 
other? The policy of these men, both then and now, 
appears to me quite void of wisdom and foresight. 
These sentiments I did mention in conversation in 
Richmond, and perhaps others which I don't remember; 
but sure I am, my first principle is, that from the British 
we have every thing to dread, when opportunities of 
oppressing us shall offer. 

3 c- 



386 SKETCHES OF THE 

" It seems that every word was watched which I 
casually dropped, and wrested to answer party views. 
Who can have been so meanly employed, I know not — 
nor do I care; for I no longer consider myself as an 
actor on the stage of public life. It is time for me 
to retire; and I shall never more appear in a public 
character, unless some unlooked for circumstance shall 
demand from me a transient effort, not inconsistent with 
private life — in which I have determined to continue. 
I see with concern our old commander in chief most 
abusively treated — nor are his long and great services 
remembered, as any apology for his mistakes in an office 
to which he was totally unaccustomed. If he, whose 
character as our leader during the whole war was above 
all praise, is so roughly handled in his old age, what 
may be expected by men of the common standard of 
character? I ever wished he might keep himself clear 
of the office he bears, and its attendant difficulties — 
but I am sorry to see the gross abuse which is published 
of him. Thus, my dear daughter, have I pestered you 
with a long letter on politics, which is a subject little 
interesting to you, except as it may involve my reputa- 
tion. I have long learned the little value which is to 
be placed on popularity, acquired by any other way than 
virtue; and I have also learned that it is often obtained 
by other means. The view which the rising greatness 
of our country presents to my eyes, is greatly tarnished 
by the general prevalence of deism; which, with me, 
is but another name for vice and depravity. I am, 
however, much consoled by reflecting, that the religion 
of Christ has, from its first appearance in the world., 
been attacked in vain, by all the wits, philosophers, 
and wise ones, aided by every power of man, and its 
triumph has been complete. What is there in the wit 



LIFE OF HENRY. 387 

or wisdom of the present deistical writers or professors, 
that can compare them with Hume, Shaftsbury, 
Bolingbroke, and others? and yet these have been 
confuted, and their fame decaying; in so much, that 
the puny efforts of Paine are thrown in to prop their 
tottering fabrick, whose foundations cannot stand the 
test of time. Amongst other strange things said of 
me, I hear it is said by the deists that I am one of the 
number; and, indeed, that some good people think I am 
no christian. This thought gives me much more pain 
than the appellation of tory; because I think religion 
of infinitely higher importance than politics ; and I find 
much cause to reproach myself, that I have lived so 
long, and have given no decided and public proofs of 
my being a christian. But, indeed, my dear child, this 
is a character which I prize far above all this world 
has or can boast. And amongst all the handsome things 
I hear said of you, what gives me the greatest pleasure 
is, to be told of your piety and steady virtue. Be assured 
there is not one tittle, as to disposition or character, in 
which my parental affection for you would suffer a wish 
for your changing; and it flatters my pride to have you 
spoken of as you are. 

" Perhaps Mr. Roane and Anne may have heard the 
reports you mention. If it will be any object with them 
to see what I write you, show them this. But my wish 
is to pass the rest of my days, as much as may be, 
unobserved by the critics of the world, who would show 
but little sympathy for the deficiencies to which old age 
is so liable. May God bless you, my dear Betsy, and 
your children. Give my love to Mr. Aylett, and believe 
me ever your affectionate father, 

" P. Henry." 



388 SKETCHES OF THE 

This charge, however, had not deprived Mr. Henry 
of the confidence of his country; for in the session of 
the legislature which followed the date of his letter, he 
was, for the third time, elected the governor of the state. 
The letter by which he declined the acceptance of that 
office is as follows: 

" To the honourable the speaker of the house of 
delegates. 

" Charlotte County, Nov. 29th, 1796. 

"Sir, 

" I have just received the honour of yours, inform- 
ing me of my appointment to the chief magistracy of 
the commonwealth. And I have to beg the favour of 
you, sir, to convey to the general assembly, my best 
acknowledgments, and warmest gratitude for the signal 
honour they have conferred on me. I should be happy 
if I could persuade myself, that my abilities were com- 
mensurate to the duties of that office; but my declining 
years warn me of my inability. 

" I beg leave, therefore, to decline the appointment, 
and to hope and trust that the general assembly will be 
pleased to excuse me for doing so; as no doubt Can be 
entertained that many of my fellow-citizens possess the 
requisite abilities for this high trust. 

" With the highest regard, I am, sir, your most 
obedient servant, 

" P. Henry." 

This was the last testimonial of public confidence 
which Mr. Henry received from his native state. The 
rumours of his political apostacy became strong and 



LIFE OF HENRY. 389 

general. He was a prize worth contending for; and 
it is not wonderful, therefore, that the rival parties 
observed, with the most jealous distrust, every advance 
which was made towards him by the other, and inter- 
preted such advances as so many stratagems to gain 
him over: nor is it wonderful, if during the fever of 
that hot and violent struggle, many things were sup- 
posed to be seen, which did not in fact exist; and that 
those which did exist, were sometimes seen under false 
shapes and colours. It was reported at that day, that, 
on Mr. Jefferson's resignation of the office of secretary 
of state, that office was offered to Mr. Henry, in the 
confidence, that while the offer would gratify him, he 
would nevertheless reject it: however this may be, it is 
certain that the embassy to Spain was offered to him, 
during the first administration; and that to France, dur- 
ing the second.* These offers were known at the time; 
and, when compared with his advanced age — the large 
family with which he was encumbered — his settled and 
well known purpose of retirement — and the consequent 
probability that these offers would not be accepted — and 
the sentiments which he afterwards expressed, in favour 
of some of the measures of administration, which 
were extremely obnoxious in Virginia — those offers 
were considered by the republicans, as so many strokes 
of political flattery, addressed to the vanity of an old 
man, and which had been but too successful in having 
won him to the federal ranks. That he approved of the 
alien and sedition laws, as good measures, is undeni- 
able; indeed, he was not a man who would deny any 
opinion that he held: and, however honest might have 
been his conviction, both of the constitutionality and 

* On the authority of judge Winston. 



390 SKETCHES OF THE 

expediency of these measures, it is equally undeniable, 
that his sentiments in relation to them, combined with 
the above causes, by which those sentiments were 
suspected of having been influenced, produced an 
extremely unpropitious effect on his popularity in 
Virginia. 

The charge of apostacy, however, implies a previous 
commitment to the opposite side: but the evidence that 
Mr. Henry ever stood committed to the democratic or 
to any other party, (except the great American party of 
liberty and republican government,) has not yet been 
seen by the author of these sketches. At the time of 
his retirement, it is believed that the post-constitutional 
parties were not distinctly marked. He had no oppor- 
tunity, .after they were so marked, of expressing hisr 
opinion publicly in favour of the one side or the other. 
It is highly probable, that his opinions did not coincide 
throughout with those of either side: and it would be 
rather rash to infer, from his disapprobation of one or 
more measures of the administration, or from his general 
love of liberty, that he must of necessity have been attach- 
ed at first to the democratic side. Nor would it be more 
correct to infer, from his having resisted the adoption of 
the federal constitution, that he was therefore opposed to 
the measures of those who administered it; for the con- 
verse of this proposition, which must be equally true, 
would have thrown many more into the federal ranks 
than would have been willing to acknowledge the con- 
nexion. Mr. Henry had moreover declared, as we have 
seen, in the last speech which he made in the state con- 
vention, in opposition to the constitution, that if it should 
be adopted, he would be a peaceable citizen ; that he 
would not go to violence, but that he would seek the 
correction of whatever he thought amiss, by quiet 



LIFE OF HENRY. 391 

tncam. Upon the whole, it would seem more liberal, 
more consonant to the high character of Mr. Henry's 
mind, with his time of life, and with that distant and 
feeble connexion which he now considered himself as 
holding with politics, and indeed with the world — to 
believe that he looked, without passion or prejudice of 
any kind, on the course of the administration, approving 
or condemning, according to his own judgment, without 
reference to the pleasure or opinions of either side: or 
if we must suppose him under personal influence of any 
kind, would it have been unpardonable in him, to have 
been influenced by the opinions of that man, who had 
ever stood first both in his judgment and affections, and 
whom all America acknowledged as the father of his 
country? 

Other natural causes, too, may be fairly considered 
as having united their influence in producing this differ- 
ence of political sentiment, between Mr. Henry and the 
majority of his state. In the year 1797, his health 
began to decline, and continued to sink gradually to the 
moment of his death.* He had now passed through 
a stormy life to his sixtieth year, and the vigour of his 
mind, exhausted more by past toils than by years, began 
to give way. Those energies which had enabled him 
to brave the power of Great Britain, and to push for- 
ward the glorious revolution which made us free, existed 
no longer in their original force. The usual infirmities 
of age and disease began to press, sorely and heavily, 
upon his sinking spirits. He was startled by that clash 
of contending parties, which rang continually around 
him, and invaded, with perpetually increasing horror, 
the stillness of his retreat. His retirement cut him off. 

* Judge Winston. 



392 SKETCHES OF THE 

almost entirely, from all communication with those 
who were best able to explain the grounds, as well as 
the character and measure of opposition to the offen- 
sive measures, which was intended; and the spirit and 
views of that opposition were, no doubt, aggravated to 
him by report. Acting as those things did on the mind of 
an infirm old man ; worn out by the toils and troubles of 
the past revolution, and naturally wishing for repose; 
alarmed too, and agonized by the hideous scenes of 
that revolution which was then going on in France; and 
tortured by the apprehension, that those scenes were 
about to be acted over again in his own country — it is 
not surprising, that he was dismayed by the vehemence 
of that political strife which then agitated the United 
States; nor would it be surprising, if his solicitude to 
allay the ferment and restore the peace of society, 
should, in some degree, have obscured the decisions of 
his mind; and placed him, rather by his fears than his 
judgment, in opposition to the forcible resistance, which 
he had been erroneously led to consider as meditated 
by the democratic party. In a mind thus prepared, the 
strong and animated resolutions of the Virginia assembly 
in 1798, in relation to the alien and sedition laws, con- 
jured up the most frightful visions of civil war, disunion, 
blood, and anarchy; and under the impulse of these phan- 
toms, to make what he considered a virtuous effort for 
his country, he presented himself in Charlotte county, 
as a candidate for the house of delegates, at the spring 
election of 1799. 

On the day of the election, as soon as he appeared 
on the ground, he was surrounded by the admiring and 
adoring crowd, and whithersoever he moved, the con- 
course followed him. A preacher of the Baptist church, 
whose piety was wounded by this homage paid to a 



LIFE OP HENRY. 393 

mortal, asked the people aloud, " Why they thus fol- 
lowed Mr. Henry about?— Mr. Henry," said he, "is 
not a god!" " No," said Mr. Henry, deeply affected 
both by the scene and the remark; " no, indeed, my 
friend; I am but a poor worm of the dust — as fleeting 
and unsubstantial as the shadow of the cloud that flies 
over your fields, and is remembered no more." The 
tone with which this was uttered, and the look which 
accompanied it, affected every heart, and silenced every 
voice. Envy and opposition were disarmed by his 
humility; the recollection of his past services rushed 
upon every memory, and he " read his history" in their 
swimming eyes. 

Before the polls were opened, he addressed the peo- 
ple of the county to the following effect: " He told them 
that the late proceedings of the Virginian assembly had 
filled him with apprehensions and alarm ; that they had 
planted thorns upon his pillow; that they had drawn him 
from that happy retirement which it had pleased a 
bountiful Providence to bestow, and in which he had 
hoped to pass, in quiet, the remainder of his days ; that 
the state had quitted the sphere in which she had been 
placed by the constitution; and in daring to pronounce 
upon the validity of federal laws, had gone out of her 
jurisdiction in a manner not warranted by any authority, 
and in the highest degree alarming to every considerate 
man ; that such opposition, on the part of Virginia, to 
the acts of the general government, must beget their 
enforcement by military power; that this would probably 
produce civil war; civil war, foreign alliances; and that 
foreign alliances must necessarily end in subjugation 
to the powers called in. He conjured the people to 
pause and consider well, before they rushed into such 

3 D 



394 SKETCHES OF THE 

a desperate condition, from which there could be no 
retreat. He painted to their imaginations, Washington, 
at the head of a numerous and well appointed army, 
inflicting upon them military execution: 'and where 
(he asked) are our resources to meet such a con- 
flict? — Where is the citizen of America who will 
dare to lift his hand against the father of his coun- 
try?* A drunken man in the crowd threw up his 
arm, and exclaimed that c he dared to do it/ — ' No/ 
answered Mr. Henry, rising aloft in all his majesty: 
'you dare not do it: in such a parricidal attempt, the 
steel ivoidd drop from your nerveless arm!' ' The 
look and gesture at this moment, (says a correspondent,) 
gave to these words an energy on my mind, unequalled 
by any thing that I have ever witnessed/ Mr. Henry, 
proceeding in his address to the people, asked, ' whe- 
ther the county of Charlotte would have any authority 
to dispute an obedience to the laws of Virginia; and he 
pronounced Virginia to be to the union, what the county 
of Charlotte was to her. Having denied the right of a 
state to decide upon the constitutionality of federal laws, 
he added, that perhaps it might be necessary to say 
something of the merits of the laws in question. His 
private opinion was, that they were 'good and proper.' 
But, whatever might be their merits, it belonged to the 
people, who held the reins over the head of congress, 
and to them alone, to say whether they were acceptable 
or otherwise, to Virginians; and that this must be done 
by way of petition. That congress were as much our 
representatives as the assembly, and had as good a right 
to our confidence. He had seen, with regret, the unli- 
mited power over the purse and sword consigned to the 
general government; but that he had been overruled 



LIFE OF HENRY. 395 

and it was now necessary to submit to the constitutional 
exercise of that power. 'If,' said he, 'lam asked 
what is to be done, when a people feel themselves 
intolerably oppressed, my answer is ready: — Overturn 
the government But do not, I beseech you, carry matters 
to this length, without provocation. Wait at least until 
some infringement is made upon your rights, and which 
cannot otherwise be redressed; for if ever you recur to 
another change, you may bid adieu for ever to repre- 
sentative government. You can never exchange the 
present government, but for a monarchy. If die admi- 
nistration have done wrong, let us all go wrong together 
rather than split into factions, which must destroy that 
union upon which our existence hangs. Let us preserve 
our strength for the French, the English, the Germans, 
or whoever else shall dare to invade our territory, and 
not exhaust it in civil commotions and intestine wars.' 
He concluded, by declaring his design to exert himself in 
the endeavour to allay the heart-burnings and jealousies 
which had been fomented in the state legislature; and 
he fervently prayed, if he was deemed unworthy to effect 
it, that it might be reserved to some other and abler 
hand, to extend this blessing over the community." 

This was the substance of the speech written down 
at the time by one of his hearers. " There was," says 
the writer, "an emphasis in his language, to which, 
like the force of his articulation, and the command- 
ing expression of his eye, no representation can do 
justice; yet I am conscious of having given a correct 
transcript of his opinions, and in many instances his 
very expression." 

Such was the last effort of Mr. Henry's eloquence: 
the power of the noon day sun was gone; but its setting 



396 SKETCHES OF THE 

splendours were not less beautiful and touching. After 
this speech, the polls were opened; and he was elected 
by his usual commanding majority. 

His intention having been generally known for some 
time before the period of the state elections, the most 
formidable preparations were made to oppose him in 
the assembly. Mr. Madison, (the late president of the 
United States,) Mr. Giles of Amelia, Mr. Taylor of 
Caroline, Mr. Nicholas of Albemarle, and a host of 
young men of shining talents, from every part of the 
state, were arrayed in the adverse rank, and commanded 
a decided majority in the house. But heaven in its 
mercy saved him from the unequal conflict. The disease 
which had been preying upon him for two years, now 
hastened to its crisis; and on the sixth day of June, 1 799, 
this friend of liberty and of man was no more. 

Here let us pause. The storm of 1799, thank 
heaven! has passed away; and we again enjoy the calm 
and sunshine of domestic peace. We are able, now, to 
see with other eyes, and to feel with far different hearts. 
Who is there, that, looking back upon the part which 
he bore in those scenes, can say that he was at no time 
guilty of any fault of conduct, any error of opinion, or 
any vicious excess of feeling? The man who can say 
this, is either very much to be pitied, or most exceed- 
ingly to be envied. But whatever ive may be disposed 
to say or to think of ourselves, there can be very little 
doubt, that that Being, who is the searcher of hearts, 
sees very much during that period, to be forgiven in us 
all. It would, indeed, be presumptuous in the extreme, 
amid the universal admission which is made of the 
imperfection of human nature, in the happiest circum- 



LIFE OF HENRY. 397 

stances, to contend for its infallibility, while acting 
under the scourge of the most angry and vindictive 
passions. 

Let it be admitted, then, that during the period of 
which we are speaking, Mr. Henry was guilty of a 
political aberration; but let all the peculiar circum- 
stances of his case, which have been enumerated, 
be taken into the account; and let it be farther 
remembered, that if he did go astray, as the majority 
of the state believe, he strayed in company with the 
father of his country — and where is the heart so cold 
and thankless, as to balance a mistake thus committed, 
against a long life of such solid, splendid, and glorious 
utility? Certainly not in Virginia — and it is to Vir- 
ginians only that this appeal is made. The sentiments 
now so universally expressed in relation to Mr. Henry, 
evince, that the age of party resentment has passed away, 
and that that of the noblest gratitude has taken its place. 
But let us return to our narrative. 

At the session of the assembly immediately following 
Mr. Henry's death, before the spirit of party had time to 
relent, and give way to that generous feeling of grateful 
veneration for him, which now pervades the state, 
a federal member of the house moved the following 
resolution: 

" The general assembly of Virginia, as a testimonial 
of their veneration for the character of their late illus- 
trious fellow-citizen, Patrick Henry, whose unrivalled 
eloquence and superior talents were, in times of peculiar 
peril and distress, so uniformly, so powerfully, and so 
successfully, devoted to the cause of freedom, and of 
his country — and, in order to invite the present and 



398 SKETCHES OF THE 

future generations to an imitation of his virtues, and aii 
emulation of his fame — 

u Resolved, That the executive be authorized and 
requested, to procure a marble bust of the said Patrick 
Henry, at the public expense, and to cause the same to 
be placed in one of the niches of the hall of the house 
of delegates." 

Nothing could have been more unfortunate for the 
success of this resolution, than the time at which it was 
brought forward, and the mover by whom it was offered. 
The time, as we have seen, was during that paroxysm 
of displeasure against Mr. Henry, which even his death, 
although it had abated, had not entirely allayed: and the 
mover was a gentleman who had himself been recently 
counted on the republican side of the house, and was 
now also smarting under the charge of apostacy. All 
the angry passions of the house immediately arose at 
such a proposition, from such a quarter. A republican 
member moved to lay the resolution on the table; the 
gentleman who offered it, replied with warmth, that 
if it were so disposed of, he would never call it up 
again. It was laid upon the table, and has been heard 
of no more. 

Thus lived, and thus died, the celebrated Patrick 
Henry of Virginia; a man who justly deserves to be 
ranked among the highest ornaments, and noblest 
benefactors of his country. Had his lot been cast in 
the republics of Greece or Rome, his name would 
have been enrolled by some immortal pen, among the 
expellers of tyrants and the champions of liberty: the 
proudest monuments of national gratitude would have 
risen to his honour, and handed down his memory to 
future generations. As it is, his fame, as yet, is left to 



LIFE OP HENRY. 399 

rest upon tradition, and on that short notice which 
general history can take of him ; while no memorial, no 
slab even, raised by the hand of national gratitude, 
points us to his grave, or tells where sleep the ashes 
of the patriot and the sage. May we not hope, that 
this reproach upon the state will soon be wiped away, 
and that ample atonement will be made for our past 
neglect? 



401 



CONCLUSION. 

Mr. Henry, by his two marriages, was the father of 
fifteen children. By his first wife he had six, of whom 
two only survived him ; by his last, he had six sons and 
three daughters, all of whom, together with their mother, 
were living at his death. 

He had been fortunate during the latter part of his 
life; and, chiefly by the means of judicious purchases 
of lands, had left his family, large as it was, not only 
independent, but rich. 

In his habits of living, he was remarkably temperate 
and frugal. He seldom drank any thing but water; and 
his table, though abundantly spread, was furnished only 
with the most simple viands. Necessity had imposed 
those habits upon him in the earlier part of his life; and 
use, as well as reason, now made them his choice. 

His children were raised with little or no restraint. 
He seems not to have thought very highly of early 
education. It is indeed probable, that his own success, 
which was attributable almost entirely to the natural 
powers of his mind, had diminished the importance of 
an extensive education in his view. But although they 
were suffered to run wild for some years, and, indeed, 
committed to the sole guidance of nature, to a much 
later period than usual, yet they were finally all well 
educated; and not only by the reflected worth of their 
father, but by their own merits, have always occupied 
a most respectable station in society. 

Mr, Henry's conversation was remarkably pure and 

3 E 



402 SKETCHES OF THE 

chaste. He never swore. He was never heard to take 
the name of his Maker in vain. He was a sincere 
christian, though after a form of his own; for he was 
never attached to any particular religious society, and 
never, it is believed, communed with any church. A 
friend who visited him not long before his death, found 
him engaged in reading the bible: "here," said he, 
holding it up, " is a book worth more than all the other 
books that were ever printed: yet it is my misfortune 
never to have found time to read it, with the proper 
attention and feeling, till lately. I trust in the mercy 
of heaven, that it is not yet too late." He was much 
pleased with Soame Jenyns' View of the internal 
evidences of the christian religion; so much so, that 
about the year 1790, he had an impression of it 
struck at his own expense, and distributed among the 
people. His other favourite works on the subject 
were Doddridge's " Rise and Progress of Religion in 
the Soul," and Butler's " Analogy of Religion, Natural 
and Revealed." This latter work, he used at one 
period of his life to style, by way of pre-eminence, his 
bible. The selection proves not only the piety of his 
temper, but the correctness of his taste, and his relish 
for profound and vigorous disquisition. 

His morals were strict. As a husband, a father, 
a master, he had no superior. He was kind and 
hospitable to the stranger, and most friendly and 
accommodating to his neighbours. In his dealings with 
the world, he was faithful to his promise, and punctual 
in his contracts, to the utmost of his power. 

Yet we do not claim for him a total exemption from 
the failures of humanity. Moral perfection is not the 
property of man. The love of money is said to have 
been one of Mr. Henry's strongest passions. In his 



LIFE OF HENRY. 403 

desire for accumulation, he was charged with wringing 
from the hands of his clients, and more particularly those 
of the criminals whom he defended, fees rather too 
exorbitant He was censured, too, for an attempt to 
locate the shores of the Chesapeake, which had thereto- 
fore been used as a public common, although there was, 
at that time, no law of the state which protected them 
from location. In one of his earlier purchases of land, 
he was blamed also for having availed himself of the 
existing laws of the state, in paying for it in the 
depreciated paper currency of the country; nor was he 
free from censure on account of some participation 
which he is said to have had in the profits of the Yazoo 
trade. He was accused, too, of having been rather 
more vain of his wealth, towards the close of his life, 
than became a man so great in other respects. Let 
these things be admitted, and "let the man who is 
without fault cast the first stone." In mitigation of these 
charges, if they be true, it ought to be considered that 
Mr. Henry had been, during the greater part of his life, 
intolerably oppressed by poverty and all its distressing 
train of consequences; that the family for which he had 
to provide was very large; and that the bar, although it 
has been called the road to honour, was not in those days 
the road to wealth. With these considerations in view, 
charity may easily pardon him for having considered 
only the legality of the means which he used to acquire 
an independence; and she can easily excuse him too, 
for having felt the success of his endeavours a little 
more sensibly than might have been becoming. He 
was certainly neither proud, nor hard-hearted, nor 
penurious: if he was either, there can be no reliance 
on human testimony; which represents him as being, in 
his general intercourse with the world, not only rigidly 



404 SKETCHES OF THE 

honest, but one of the kindest, gentlest, and most 
indulgent of human beings. 

While we are on this ungrateful subject of moral 
imperfection, the fidelity of history requires us to notice 
another charge against Mr. Henry. His passion for 
fame is said to have been too strong; he was accused 
of a wish to monopolize the public favour; and under 
the influence of this desire, to have felt no gratification 
in the rising fame of certain conspicuous characters; 
to have indulged himself in invidious and unmerited 
remarks upon them, and to have been at the bottom of a 
cabal against one of the most eminent. If these things 
were so — alas! poor human nature! It is certain that 
these charges are very inconsistent with his general 
character. So far from being naturally envious, and 
disposed to keep back modest merit, one of the finest 
traits in his character was, the parental tenderness with 
which he took by the hand every young man of merit, 
covered him with his a?gis in the legislature, and led 
him forward at. the bar. In relation to his first great 
rival in eloquence, Richard Henry Lee, he not only did 
ample justice to him on every occasion, in public, but 
defended his fame in private, with all the zeal of a 
brother; as is demonstrated by an original correspond- 
ence between those two eminent men, now in the hands 
of the author. Of colonel Innis, his next great rival, 
he entertained, and uniformly expressed, the most 
exalted opinion ; and in the convention of 1 788, as will 
be remembered, paid a compliment to his eloquence, at 
once so splendid, so happy, and so just, that it will live 
for ever. The debates of that convention abound with 
the most unequivocal and ardent declarations of his 
respect for the talents and virtues of the other eminent 
gentlemen who were arrayed against him — Mr. Madi* 



LIFE OF HENRY. 405 

son — Mr. Pendleton — Mr. Randolph. Even the justly 
great and overshadowing fame of Mr. Jefferson never 
extorted from him, in public at least, one invidious re- 
mark; on the contrary, the name of that gentleman, 
who was then in France, having been introduced into 
the debates of the convention, for the purpose of bor- 
rowing the weight of his opinion, Mr. Henry spoke of 
him in the strongest and warmest terms, not only of 
admiration but of affection — styling him " our illustrious 
fellow-citizen" "our enlightened and worthy country- 
man" " our common friend." 

The inordinate love of money and of fame are, 
certainly, base and degrading passions. They have 
sometimes tarnished characters otherwise the most 
bright; but they will find no advocate or apologist in 
any virtuous bosom. In relation to Mr. Henry, 
however, we may be permitted to doubt whether the 
facts on which these censures (so inconsistent with his 
general character) are grounded, have not been mis- 
conceived; and whether so much of them as is really 
true, may not be fairly charged to the common account 
of human imperfection. 

Mr. Henry's great intellectual defect was his indo- 
lence. To this it was owing, that he never possessed 
that admirable alertness and vigorous versatility of 
mind, which turns promptly to every thing, attends to 
every thing, arranges every thing, and by systematizing 
its operations, despatches each in its proper time, 
and place, and manner. To the same cause it is to be 
ascribed, that he never possessed that patient drudgery, 
and that ready, neat, copious, and masterly command of 
details, which forms so essential a part of the duties both 
of the statesman and the lawyer. Hence, too, he did 
not avail himself of the progress of science and litera- 



406 SKETCHES OF THE 

ture, in his age. He had not, as he might have done, 
amassed those ample stores of various, useful, and 
curious knowledge, which are so naturally expected to 
be found in a great man. His library (of which an in- 
ventory has been furnished to the author) was extremely 
small; composed not only of very few books, but those, 
too, commonly odd volumes. Of science and literature, 
he knew little or nothing more than was occasionally 
gleaned from conversation. It is not easy to conceive, 
what a mind like his might have achieved in either, or 
both of these walks, had it been properly trained at first, 
or industriously occupied in those long intervals of 
leisure which he threw away. One thing, however, may 
be safely pronounced; that had that mind of Herculean 
strength been either so trained, or so occupied, he 
would have left behind him some written monument, 
compared with which, even statues and pillars would 
have been but the ephemera? of a day. But he seems 
to have been of Hobbes's opinion, who is reported to 
have said of himself, "that if he had read as much as 
other men, he should have been as ignorant as they 
were."* Mr. Henry's book was the great volume of 
human nature. In this, he was more deeply read than 
any of his countrymen. He knew men thoroughly; 
and hence arose his great power of persuasion.f His 
preference of this study, is manifested by the following 
incident: — he met once, in a book store, with the late 
Mr. Ralph Wormley, who, although a great book- 
worm, was infinitely more remarkable for his ignorance 

* Bayle : article Hobbes. 

f " It is in vain," says the chancellor D'Aguesseau, "that the orator flat 
ters himself with having the talent to persuade men, if he has not acquired 
that of knowing them." Discourse i. p. 1. 



LIFE OP HENRY. 407 

of men, than Mr. Henry was for that of books — 
"What, Mr. Wormley," said he, "still buying books?" 
" Yes," said Mr. Wormley, " I have just heard of a 
new work, which I am extremely anxious to peruse." 
" Take my word for it," said he, " Mr. Wormley, we 
are too old to read books: read men — they are the only 
volume that ive can peruse to advantage." But Mr. 
Henry might have perused both, with infinite advantage, 
not only to himself, but to his country, and to the 
world; and that he did not do it, may, it is be- 
lieved, be fairly ascribed, rather to the indolence 
of his temper, than the deliberate decision of his 
judgment. 

Judge Winston says, that " he was, throughout life, 
negligent of the dress: but this, it is apprehended, 
applied rather to his habits in the country, than to his 
appearance in public. At the bar of the general court, 
he always appeared in a full suit of black cloth, or velvet, 
and a tie wig, which was dressed and powdered in the 
highest style of forensic fashion; in the winter season, 
too, according to the costume of the day, he wore over 
his other apparel, an ample cloak of scarlet cloth; and 
thus attired, made a figure bordering on grandeur. 
While he filled the executive chair, he is said to have 
been justly attentive to his dress and appearance; "not 
being disposed to afford the occasion of humiliating- 
comparisons between the past and present govern- 
ment." 

He had long since, too, laid aside the offensive rusti- 
city of his juvenile manners. His manners, indeed, were 
still unostentatious, frank, and simple; but they had all 
that natural ease and unaffected gracefulness, which 
distinguish the circles of the polite and well bred. On 
occasions, too, where state and ceremony were expected, 



408 SKETCHES OF THE 

there was no man who could act better his part. I have 
had a description of Mr. Henry, entering, in the full 
dress which I have mentioned, the hall of the delegates, 
at whose bar he was about to appear as an advocate, 
and saluting the house, all around, with a dignity and 
even majesty, that would have done honour to the 
most polished courtier in Europe. This, however, was 
only on extraordinary occasions, when such a deport- 
ment was expected, and was properly in its place. In 
general, his manners were those of the plain Virginian 
gentleman — kind — open — candid — and conciliating — 
warm without insincerity, and polite without pomp — 
neither chilling by his reserve, nor fatiguing by his 
loquacity — but adapting himself, without an effort, to 
the character of his company. " He would be pleased 
and cheerful/' says a correspondent, " with persons 
of any class or condition, vicious and abandoned persons 
only excepted; he preferred those of character and 
talents, but would be amused with any who could 
contribute to his amusement." He had himself a vein 
of pleasantry, which was extremely amusing, without 
detracting from his dignity. His companions, although 
perfectly at their ease with him, were never known to 
treat him with degrading familiarities. Their love and 
their respect for him equally forbade it. Nor had they 
any dread of an assault upon their feelings; for there 
was nothing cruel in his wit. The tomahawk and scalp- 
ing knife were no part of his colloquial apparatus. He 
felt no pleasure in seeing the victim writhe under 
his stroke. The benignity of his spirit could not have 
borne such a sight, without torture. He found himself 
happiest, in communicating happiness to others. His 
conversation was instructive and delightful; stately 
where it should be so, but in the general, easy, familiar, 



LIFE OF HENRY. 409 

sprightly and entertaining; always, however, good 
humoured, and calculated to amuse without wounding. 
As a specimen of this light and good natured plea- 
santry, the following anecdote has heen furnished. Mr. 
Henry, together with Mr. Richard H. Lee, and several 
other conspicuous members of the assembly, were 
invited to pass the evening and night, at the house of Mr. 
Edmund Randolph, in the neighbourhood of Richmond. 
Mr. Lee, who was as brilliant and copious in conversa- 
tion as in debate, had amused the company to a very late 
hour, by descanting on the genius of Cervantes, particu- 
larly as exhibited in his chefd'ceuvre, Don Quixote. The 
dissertation had been continued rather too long: the 
company began to yawn, when Mr. Hemy, who had 
observed it, although Mr. Lee had not, rose slowly from 
his chair, and remarked as he walked across the room, 
that Don Quixote was certainly a most excellent work, 
and most skilfully adapted to the purpose of the author: 
" but," said he, " Mr. Lee, (stopping before him, with 
a most significant archness of look,) you have over- 
looked, in your eulogy, one of the finest things in the 
book/' "What is that?" asked Mr Lee. "It is," 
said Mr. Henry, " that divine exclamation of Sancho, 
'blessed be the man that first invented sleep: it covers 
one all over, like a cloak?" Mr. Lee took the hint; 
and the company broke up in good humour. 

His quick and true discernment of characters, and 
his prescience of political events, were very much 
admired. The following examples of each, have been 
furnished by Mr. Pope: 

Mr Gallatin came to Virginia when a very young- 
man : he was obscure and unknown, and spoke the 
English language so badly, that it was with difficulty he 

3 F 



410 SKETCHES OF THE 

could be understood. He was engaged in some agency 
which made it necessary to present a petition to the 
assembly, and endeavoured to interest the leading 
members in its fate, by attempting to explain, out 
of doors, its merits and justice. But they could not 
understand him well enough to feel any interest either 
for him or his petition. In this hopeless condition he 
waited on Mr. Henry, and soon felt that he was in 
different hands. Mr. Henry, on his part, was so delighted 
with the interview, that he spoke of Mr. Gallatin every 
where in raptures — " he declared him without hesitation 
or doubt, to be the most sensible and best informed man 
he had ever conversed with — he is to be sure" said he, 
" a most astonishing man!" The reader well knows 
how eminently Mr. Gallatin has since fulfilled this 
character; and considering the very disadvantageous 
circumstances under which he was seen by Mr. Henry, 
it is certainly a striking proof of the superior sagacity 
of the observer. 

In relation to his political foresight, the following 
anecdote is in Mr. Pope's own words: "In the year 
1798, after Buonaparte had annihilated five Austrian 
armies, and, flushed with victory, was carrying away 
every thing before him, I heard Mr. Henry in a public 
company, observe (shaking his head after his impressive 
manner) — It won't all do! the present generation in 
France is so debased by a long despotism, they possess 
so few of the virtues that constitute the life and soul of 
republicanism, that they are incapable of forming a 
correct and just estimate of rational liberty. Their 
revolution will terminate differently from what you 
expect — their state of anarchy will be succeeded by 
despotism; and I should not be surprised, if the very 
man at whose victories you now rejoice, should Caesar- 



LIFE OF HENRY. 411 

like, subvert the liberties of his country. All who know 
me," continued Mr. Henry, " know that I am a firm 
advocate for liberty and republicanism: I believe I have 
given some evidences of this. I wish it may not be so, 
but I am afraid the event will justify this prediction." 

The following is the fullest description which the 
author has been able to procure of Mr. Henry's person. 
He was nearly six feet high; spare, and what may be 
called raw-boned, with a slight stoop of the shoulders — 
his complexion was dark, sun burnt, and sallow, without 
any appearance of blood in his cheeks — his countenance 
grave, thoughtful, penetrating, and strongly marked with 
the lineaments of deep reflection — the earnestness of 
his manner, united with an habitual contraction or 
knitting of his brows, and those lines of thought with 
which his face was profusely furrowed, gave to his 
countenance at some times, the appearance of severity 
— yet such was the power which he had over its 
expression, that he could shake off from it in an instant, 
all the sternness of winter, and robe it in the brightest 
smiles of spring. His forehead was high and straight; 
yet forming a sufficient angle with the lower part of 
his face — his nose somewhat of the Roman stamp, 
though like that which we see in the bust of Cicero, 
it was rather long, than remarkable for its C cesarean 
form — of the colour of his eyes, the accounts are 
almost «.s various as those which we have of the colour 
of the chamelion — they are said to have been blue, 
grey, what Lavater calls green, hazel, brown, and 
black — the fact seems to have been that they were of 
a bluish grey, not large; and being deeply fixed in his 
head, overhung by dark, long, and full eye-brows, and 
farther shaded by lashes that were both long and black, 
their apparent colour was as variable as the lights in, 



412 SKETCHES OF THE 

which they were seen — but all concur in saying that 
they were, unquestionably, the finest feature in his 
face — brilliant — full of spirit, and capable of the most 
rapidly shifting and powerful expression — at one time 
piercing and terrible as those of Mars, and then again 
soft and tender as those of pity herself — his cheeks 
were hollow — his chin long, but well formed, and 
rounded at the end, so as to form a proper counter- 
part to the upper part of his face. " I find it difficult," 
says the correspondent from whom I have borrowed 
this portrait, " to describe his mouth; in which there 
was nothing remarkable, except when about to express 
a modest dissent from some opinion on which he was 
commenting — he then had a sort of half smile, in which 
the want of conviction was perhaps more strongly ex- 
pressed, than the satirical emotion, which probably 
prompted it. His manner and address to the court and 
jury might be deemed the excess of humility, diffidence, 
and modesty: If, as rarely happened, he had occasion 
to answer any remark from the bench, it was impos- 
sible for meekness herself to assume a manner less 
presumptuous — but in the smile of which I have been 
speaking, you might anticipate the want of conviction, 
expressed in his answer, at the moment that he submitted 
to the superior ivisdom of the court, with a grace that 
would have done honour to Westminster hall. In his 
reply to counsel, his remarks on the evidence,* and on 
the conduct of the parties, he preserved the same dis- 
tinguished deference and politeness, still accompanied 
however by the never-failing index of this sceptical 
smile, where the occasion prompted." In short, his 
features were manly, bold, and well proportioned, full 
of intelligence, and adapting themselves intuitively to 
every sentiment of his mind, and every feeling of his 



LIFE OF HENRY. . 413 

heart. His voice was not remarkable for its sweetness; 
but it was firm, of full volume, and rather melodious than 
otherwise. Its charms consisted in the mellowness and 
fulness of its note, the ease and variety of its inflections, 
the distinctness of its articulation, the fine effect of its 
emphasis, the felicity with which it attuned itself to 
every emotion, and the vast compass which enabled it 
to range through the whole empire of human passion, 
from the deep and tragic half whisper of horror, to the 
wildest exclamation of overwhelming rage. In mild 
persuasion, it was as soft and gentle as the zephyr of 
spring; while in rousing his countrymen to arms, the 
winter storm that roars along the troubled Baltic, was 
not more awfully sublime. It was at all times perfectly 
under his command; or rather, indeed, it seemed to 
command itself, and to modulate its notes, most hap- 
pily to the sentiment he was uttering. It never ex- 
ceeded, or fell short of the occasion. There was none 
of that long continued and deafening vociferation, 
which always takes place when an ardent speaker has 
lost possession of himself — no monotonous clangour, no 
discordant shriek. Without being strained, it had that 
body and enunciation which filled the most distant ear, 
without distressing those which were nearest him: hence 
it never became cracked or hoarse, even in his longest 
speeches, but retained to the last all its clearness and 
fulness of intonation, all the delicacy of its inflection, 
all the charms of its emphasis, and enchanting variety 
of its cadence. 

His delivery was perfectly natural and well timed. It 
has indeed been said, that, on his first rising, there was 
a species of sub-cantus very observable by a stranger, 
and rather disagreeable to him; but that in a very few 
moments even this itself became agreeable, and seemed 



414 SKETCHES OP THE 

indeed, indispensable to the full effect of his peculiar 
diction and conceptions. In point of time, he was 
very happy: there was no slow and heavy dragging, no 
quaint and measured drawling, with equidistant pace, 
no stumbling and floundering among the fractured 
members of deranged and broken periods, no undigni- 
fied hurry and trepidation, no recalling and recasting of 
sentences as he went along, no retraction of one word 
and substitution of another not better, and none of 
those affected bursts of almost inarticulate impetuosity, 
which betray the rhetorician rather than display the 
orator. On the contrary, ever self-collected, deliberate, 
and dignified, he seemed to have looked through the 
whole period before he commenced its delivery; and 
hence his delivery was smooth, and firm, and well 
accented; slow enough to take along with him the 
dullest hearer, and yet so commanding, that the quick 
had neither the power nor the disposition to get the 
start of him. Thus he gave to every thought its full 
and appropriate force; and to every image all its 
radiance and beauty. 

No speaker ever understood better than Mr. Henry, 
the true use and power of the pause; and no one ever 
practised it with happier effect. His pauses were never 
resorted to, for the purpose of investing an insignificant 
thought with false importance; much less were they 
ever resorted to as a finesse, to gain time for thinking. 
The hearer was never disposed to ask, " why that 
pause?" nor to measure its duration by a reference to 
his watch. On the contrary, it always came at the very 
moment, when he would himself have wished it, in 
order to weigh the striking and important thought which 
had just been uttered; and the interval was always filled 
by the speaker with a matchless energy of look, which 



LIFE OF HENRY, 415 

drove the thought home through the mind and through 
the heart. 

His gesture, and this varying play of his features and 
voice, were so excellent, so exquisite, that many have 
referred his power as an orator principally to that cause; 
yet this was all his own, and his gesture, particularly, of 
so peculiar a cast, that it is said it would have become 
no other man. I do not learn that it was very abun- 
dant; for there was no trash about it; none of those 
false motions to which undisciplined speakers are so 
generally addicted; no chopping nor sawing of the air; 
no thumping of the bar to express an earnestness, 
which was much more powerfully, as well as more 
elegantly, expressed by his eye and his countenance. 
Whenever he moved his arm, or his hand, or even 
his finger, or changed the position of his body, it was 
always to some purpose; nothing was inefficient; every 
thing told; every gesture, every attitude, every look, was 
emphatic; all was animation, energy, and dignity. Its 
great advantage consisted in this — that various, bold, 
and original as it was, it never appeared to be 
studied, affected, or theatrical, or "to overstep/' in 
the smallest degree, "the modesty of nature;" for he 
never made a gesture, or assumed an attitude, which 
did not seem imperiously demanded by the occasion. 
Every look, every motion, every pause, every start, was 
completely filled and dilated by the thought which he 
was uttering, and seemed indeed to form a part of the 
thought itself. His action, however strong, was never 
vehement. He was never seen rushing forward, shoul- 
der foremost, fury in his countenance, and frenzy in his 
voice, as if to overturn the bar, and charge his audience 
sword in hand. His judgment was too manly and too 
solid, and his taste too true, to permit him to indulge in 



416 SKETCHES OF THE 

any such extravagance. His good sense and his self- 
possession never deserted him. In the loudest storm of 
declamation, in the fiercest blaze of passion, there was 
a dignity and temperance which gave it seeming. He 
had the rare faculty of imparting to his hearers all the 
excess of his own feelings, and all the violence and 
tumult of his emotions, all the dauntless spirit of his 
resolution, and all the energy of his soul, without any 
sacrifice of his own personal dignity, and without treat- 
ing his hearers otherwise than as rational beings. He 
was not the orator of a day; and therefore sought not 
to build his fame on the sandy basis of a false taste, 
fostered, if not created, by himself. He spoke for 
immortality; and therefore raised the pillars of his 
glory on the only solid foundation — the rock of nature. 

So much has been already said, incidentally, of his 
attainments, and the character of his mind, both as a 
statesman and an orator, that little remains to be added 
in a general way. As a statesman, the quality which 
strikes us most is his political intrepidity: and yet it has 
sometimes been objected to him, that he waited on 
every occasion, to see which way the popular current 
was setting, when he would artfully throw himself into 
it, and seem to guide its course. Nothing can be more 
incorrect: it would be easy to multiply proofs to refute 
the charge; — but I shall content myself with a few 
which are of general notoriety. 

1. The American revolution is universally admitted 
to have begun in the upper circles of society. It turned 
on principles too remote and abstruse for vulgar appre- 
hension or consideration. Had it depended on the 
unenlightened mass of the community, no doubt can be 
entertained at this day, that the tax imposed by parlia- 
ment would have been paid without a question. Since, 



LIFE OF HENRY. 417 

then, the upper circle of society did not take its im- 
pulse from the people, the only remaining inquiry is, 
who gave the revolutionary impulse to that circle itself? 
It was unquestionably Patrick Henry. This is affirm- 
ed by Mr. Jefferson; it is demonstrated by the resist- 
ance given to Mr. Henry's measures, by those who 
were afterwards the staunchest friends of the revolution; 
it is farther proved, by the sentiment before noticed, 
with which doctor Franklin (who was then considered 
as the first American statesman) dismissed Mr. Ingersoll, 
on his departure from London; a sentiment, which 
evinces beyond doubt, that doctor Franklin considered 
resistance' to the British power to be, at that time, 
premature; and finally, this honour is assigned to Mr. 
Henry, I perceive, by a late interesting historian of 
Massachusetts, the only state which has ever pretended 
to dispute the palm with Virginia* On this great occa- 
sion, then, it is manifest, that he did not wait for the 
popular current; but on the contrary, that it was he 
alone, who, by his single power, moved the mighty mass 
of stagnant waters, and changed the silent lake into a 



* The historian to whom I allude, is Mrs. Mercy Warren, who is said to be 
the widow of the celebrated general Warren, the hero of Bunker's hill. 
These are her words : — " The house of burgesses of .Virginia was the first 
who formally resolved against the encroachments of power, and the unwar- 
rantable designs of the British parliament. The novelty of their procedure, 
and the boldness of spirit that marked the resolutions of that assembly, at 
once astonished and disconcerted the officers of the crown, and the support- 
ers of the measures of administration. These resolutions were ushered into 
the house, on the thirtieth of May, one thousand seven hundred and sixty-five, 
by Patrick Henry, esq. a young gentleman of the law, till then unknown in 
political life. He was a man possessed of strong powers, much professional 
knowledge, and of such abilities as qualified him for the exigencies of the 
day. Fearless of the cry of treason, echoed against him from several quarters, 
he justified the measure, and supported the resolves, in a 'speech that did 
honour both to his understanding and his patriotism, &c." — Mrs. Warren's 
Hist, of the American Revolution, vol. i. p. 28. 

3 G 



A 18 SKETCHES OF THE 

roaring torrent. When it is remembered too, that he 
was then young and obscure, and of course without 
personal influence — that this step was the result of his 
own solitary reflection, and that he was perfectly aware 
of the personal danger which must attend it — we can 
require nothing farther to satisfy us, that he was a bold, 
original, independent politician, who thought for him- 
self, and pursued the dictates of his own judgment, 
wholly regardless of personal consequences. 

2. Again, in the spring of 1775, that upper circle, 
which still headed the revolution, were disposed to 
acquiesce in the plunder of the magazine, and exerted 
their utmost efforts to allay the ferment which it had 
excited. They had, in fact, succeeded ; and the people 
were every where composed, save within the immediate 
sphere of Mr. Henry's influence. The reader has 
already seen, that it was he who on that occasion 
excited the people, not who was excited by them; that 
he put them into motion, and avowed to his confidential 
friends, at the time, the motives of policy by which 
he was actuated; that he placed himself at the head of 
an armed band, which he had himself convened for the 
purpose; and in spite of the entreaties and supplications 
of the patriots at Williamsburg, and in defiance of the 
threats of Dun more and his myrmidons, pressed firmly 
and intrepidly on, until the object of his expedition was 
completely obtained. 

3. So also in the state convention, the same year, 
the old patriotic leaders were disposed still to rely on 
the efficacy of petitions, memorials, and remonstrances; 
it was Mr. Henry who proposed, and in spite of 
their opposition (which was of so strenuous and 
serious a character, that one of them in making it, 
is said to have shed tears most profusely) carried the 



LIFE OF HENRY. 419 

bold measure of arming the militia. This was not 
dictated by the people. The fact was, that at that lay, 
the people placed themselves in the hands of their more 
enlightened friends; they never ventured to prescribe 
either the time, the manner, or the measure of resist- 
ance; and there can be no room for a candid doubt 
that, but for the bold spirit and overpowering eloquence 
of Patrick Henry, the people would have followed the 
pacific counsels of Mr. Randolph, Mr. Nicholas,- Mr. 
Pendleton, Mr. Wythe, and other men of acknowledged 
talents and virtue. It was Mr. Henry, therefore, who 
led both the people and their former leaders. The 
latter, indeed, came on so reluctantly at first, that they 
may be said to have been rather dragged along, than 
led; they did come, however, and acquiring warmth by 
their motion, made ample amends thereafter for their 
early hesitation.* 

4. About the close of the war, again, when he pro- 
posed to permit the return of that obnoxious class of 
men, called British refugees and Scotch tories, did he 
follow the popular current? So far from it, that he 
stemmed the current, and turned back its course, by the 
power of his resistance. 

* The author has no intention, by these remarks, to impair in the smallest 
degree, the well-earned reputation of thdse veteran statesmen. They had 
commenced the opposition to the stamp act, and the other obnoxious acts of 
the British parliament, before Mr. Henry made his appearance as a politi- 
cian; they had commenced it too, on the same grounds, and would, probably, 
at some later period, have been wrought up by their own principles and 
feelings, to a forcible resistance to those measures. But the statements in the 
text are unquestionably correct: they did not approve of the immediate application 
of force,- Mr. Henry's policy was condemned by them as rash and precipitate. 
The author is in possession of an original letter from one of these statesmen, 
in which Mr. Henry is expressly and directly accused of having precipitated 
the revolution, against the judgment of the older and cooler patriots. 
"Events, however," as we have seen, "favoured the bolder measures of 
Mr. Henry," and proved his policy to be the best. 



420 SKETCHES OF THE 

5. So in the case of the federal constitution, whither 
did the current of the American people tend? Most 
certainly to its adoption; yet Mr. Henry, to use his own 
language, v with manly firmness, and in spite of an 
erring world," with the revered Washington too at 
their head, opposed its adoption with all the powers of 
his eloquence. 

The truth seems to be, that this charge is only a 
variation of that conveyed by the opprobrious epithets of 
demagogue and factious tribune, which we have seen 
that his rivals long since sought to fasten upon him ; and 
there can be little doubt, that it proceeded from the 
writhings and contortions of the same agonized envy. 
That a poor young man, issuing from his native woods, 
unknown, unfriended, and comparatively unlettered, 
should have been able, by the mere force of unassisted 
nature, to break to pieces the strong political confederacy 
which then ruled the country, to annihilate all the arts 
2nidfoiesse of parliamentary intrigue; to eclipse, by his 
sagacity, the experience of age; and, by the sole strength 
of his native genius, to throw into the shade all the hard 
earned attainments of literature and science, was entirely 
too humiliating to be borne in silence. It was necessary, 
therefore, to resort to some solution of this phenomenon, 
which should at once reduce the honours of this 
plebeian upstart, and soothe the wounded feelings of 
those whose pride he had brought down. Hence it 
became fashionable, in the higher circles, to speak of 
Mr. Henry as a designing demagogue, a factious 
tribune, who carried his points, not by fair and open 
debate, but by violent and inflammatory appeals to the 
worst passions of the multitude; and who frequently 
gave himself the air of leading the people, when in 
truth, he was merely following their own blind lead. 



LIFE OP HENRY. 421 

This cant lias had its day, and its propagators. Truth 
has set the subject to rights. Mr. Henry is alleged, by 
those who had the best opportunities of knowing him, 
to have been not inferior, either in public or in private 
virtue, to any patriot of the revolution; and he was 
confessedly superior to them all, in that combination of 
bold, hardy, adventurous, splendid, and solid qualifica- 
tions, which are so peculiarly fitted to revolutionary 
times. 

" He left/' says judge Winston, " no manuscripts." 
This was to have been expected. We have seen that 
he could not bear the labour of writing; nor, indeed, of 
that long continued, coherent, and methodical thinking, 
without which no successful composition, of any extent, 
can be produced. He thought, indeed, a great deal; 
but his thinking was too desultory and irregular to take 
the form of composition. His mind had never been 
disciplined to wait upon his pen — it still moved on — and 
its prismatic beauties were as evanescent as they were 
beautiful. His imagination " bodied forth the forms of 
things" much more rapidly, than his unpractised pen 
could " turn them to shapes ;" and it is not improbable, 
that his own observation of the difference between the 
vigour with which he thought, and the comparative 
decrepitude with which he wrote, disgusted him with 
his first attempts, and prevented their repetition. 

Yet this habit which he had of thinking for himself, 
and looking directly at every subject, with the natural 
eyes of his understanding, without using what has been 
called the spectacles of books, was perhaps of advantage 
to him, both as a statesman and an orator : as a states- 
man, it possibly exempted him from that common error 
of scientific theorists, of forcing resemblances between 
the present and some past historical era, and accommo- 



422 SKETCHES OF THE 

dating their measures to this imaginary identity; by his 
mode of considering subjects, no circumstance was 
either sunk, or magnified, or distorted, in order to bend 
the case to a fanciful hypothesis; nor, in deciding what 
was proper to be done in America, did he look to see 
what had been found expedient at Athens, or Rome. 
On the contrary, knowing well the people with whom 
he had to deal, of what they were capable, and what 
was necessary to their happiness, how much they could 
bear, and how much achieve, and looking immediately 
at the subject, (whatever it might be,) with that piercing 
vision, that solid judgment and ready resource, which 
characterized his mind — he seemed to seize, in every 
case, rather " luckily than laboriously," the course 
which of all others was surest of success. In short, this 
habit made him an original, sound, and practical states- 
man, instead of being a learned, dreaming, and visionary 
theorist. Not that Mr. Henry was deficient in histori- 
cal knowledge; he had enough of it for all the useful 
purposes either of analogy or illustration; but he never 
permitted it to intercept his proper view of a subject, 
or to take the lead in suggesting what was fit to be 
done. This he chose rather to derive from the nature 
of the case itself, and the character of the people 
among whom that case occurred. 

This habit of relying more on his own meditations 
than on books, was also, perhaps, of service to him as 
an orator: for by this course, he avoided the beaten 
paths and roads of thought; and instead of exhibiting in 
his speeches old ideas newly vamped up, and ancient 
beauties tricked off in modern tinsel, his arguments, 
sentiments, and figures, had all that freshness and no- 
velty which are so universally captivating. 

In what did his peculiar excellence as an orator con- 



LIFE OF HENRY. 423 

sist? in what consisted that unrivalled power of speak- 
ing, which all who ever heard him admit him to have 
possessed? The reader is already apprized, that the 
author of these sketches never had the advantage of 
hearing Mr. Henry, and that no entire speech of his 
was ever extant, either in print or writing: hence, there 
are no materials, for minute and exact analysis. The 
enquiry, however, is natural, and has been directed, 
without success, to many of the most discriminating of 
Mr. Henry^s admirers. • Their answers are as various 
as the complexion of their own characters; each pre- 
ferring that property from which he had himself derived 
the most enjoyment. Some ascribe his excellence 
wholly to. his manner: others, in great part, to the ori- 
ginality and soundness of his matter. And among the 
admirers, in both classes, there are not two who con- 
cur in assigning the pre-eminence to the same quality. 
Of his matter, one will admire the plainness and strength 
of his reasoning; another, the concentrated spirit of his 
aphorisms; a third, his wit; a fourth, his pathos; a fifth, 
the intrinsic beauty of his imagination: so in regard to 
his manner, one will place his excellence in his articu- 
lation and emphasis; a second, in the magic power with 
which he infused the tones of his voice into the nerves 
of his hearers, and rivetted their attention. The truth, 
therefore, probably is, that it was not in any single 
charm, either of matter or manner, that we are to look 
for the secret of his power; but that, like Pope's defi- 
nition of beauty, it was a the joint force and full result 
of all." 

If, however, we are to consider as really and entirely 
his, those speeches which have been already given in 
his name to the public, or are now prepared for them, 
there can be no difficulty in deciding, that his power 



424 SKETCHES OF THE 

must have consisted principally in his delivery. We 
know what extraordinary effects have been produced 
by the mere manner of an orator, without any uncom- 
mon weight or worth of matter.* We have the autho- 
rity, however, of those who heard the identical speeches 
now professed to be given as his, for declaring, that they 
are an extremely imperfect representation of them ; and 
their ability to correct them so frequently from memory, 
establishes the fact, that it was not the charm of delivery 
merely, which constituted the difference between the 
report and the original. This is not the only instance, 
in which a great orator has been injured, by imperfect 
attempts to represent him: for (to say nothing of those 
modern proofs, which will easily occur to the reader) we 
are told, that the great Pericles himself met with a simi- 
lar fate.f Candour and justice, however, require us 
to repeat, that Mr. Robertson's reports are unquestion- 
able, in point of good faith; and that they are highly 
valuable, on account of the accuracy and fidelity with 
which they are believed to have preserved the substance 
of the debates. It is with extreme regret that the au- 
thor has made a single comment to their disadvantage; 
but justice to Mr. Henry has made it indispensable. 



* " Friar £»arni, a capuchin, was so remarkable for his eloquence, that his 
hearers, after a sermon, cried out mercy, in the streets, as he passed home ; 
and thirty bishops, starting up under a discourse, hurried home to their re- 
spective dioceses: yet when his sermons came to be published, they were 
thought to be unworthy of his reputation; which shows how much depends 
on action ; and how correct the saying of Demosthenes was, on that sub- 
ject." Batle. Article Narni. 

| " Some harangues of Pericles were still extant in Quintilian's time : 
but that learned rhetorician, finding them disproportioned to the high repu- 
tation of this great man, approved the opinion of those who looked upon 
them as a supposititious work. An indifferent harangue, however, being re- 
cited by an excellent orator, may charm the hearers. Actionis almost all."— 
Batle. Article Pericles. 



LIFE OF HENRY. 425 

The basis of Mr. Henry's intellectual character was 
strong natural sense. His knowledge of human nature 
was, as we have seen, consummate. His wisdom was 
that of observation, rather than of reading. His fancy, 
although sufficiently pregnant to furnish supplies for the 
occasion, was not so exuberant as to oppress him with 
its productions. He was never guilty of the fault, with 
which Corinna is said to have reproached her rival 
Pindar, of pouring his vase of flowers all at once upon 
the ground; on the contrary, their beauty and their 
excellence were fully observed, from their rarity, and 
the happiness with which they were distributed through 
his speeches. His feelings were strong, yet completely 
under his command; they rose up to the occasion, but 
were never suffered to overflow it; his language was 
often careless, sometimes incorrect; yet upon the whole 
it was pure and perspicuous, giving out his thoughts in 
full and clear proportion; free from affectation, and 
frequently beautiful; strong without effort, and adapted 
to the occasion; nervous in argument, burning in passion, 
and capable of matching the loftiest flights of his genius. 

It may perhaps assist the reader's conception of Mr. 
Henry's peculiar cast of eloquence, to state the points in 
which he differed from some other orators. Those which 
distinguished him from Mr. Lee have been already ex- 
hibited. Colonel Innis' manner was also very different. 
His habitual indolence followed him into debate; he 
generally contented himself with a single view of his 
subject; but that was given with irresistible power. His 
eloquence was indeed a mighty and a roaring torrent; 
it had not, however, that property of Horace's stream 
labitur et labetur, in omne volubilis aivmn — on the 
contrary, it commonly ran by in half an hour. But it 
bore a striking resemblance to the eloquence of lord 

3h 



426 SKETCHES OF THE 

Chatham; it was a short, but bold and most terrible 
assault — a vehement, impetuous, and overwhelming 
burst — a magnificent meteor, which shot majestically 
across the heavens, from pole to pole, and straight 
expired in a glorious blaze. 

Mr. Henry, on the contrary, however indolent in his 
general life, was never so in debate, where the occasion 
called for exertion. He rose against the pressure, with 
the most unconquerable perseverance. He held his 
subject up in every light in which it could be placed; 
yet always with so much power, and so much beauty, 
as never to weary his audience, but on the contrary to 
delight them. He had more art than colonel Innis: 
he appealed to every motive of interest — urged every 
argument that could convince — pressed every theme 
of persuasion — awakened every feeling, and roused 
every passion to his aid. He had more variety, too, in 
his manner: sometimes he was very little above the tone 
of conversation; at others, in the highest strain of epic 
sublimity. His course was of longer continuance — his 
flights better sustained, and more diversified, both in 
their direction and velocity. He rose like the thunder- 
bearer of Jove, when he mounts on strong and untiring 
wing, to sport in fearless majesty over the troubled deep 
- — now sweeping in immense and rapid circles — then 
suddenly arresting his grand career, and hovering aloft 
in tremulous and terrible suspense — at one instant, 
plunged amid the foaming waves — at the next, re- 
ascending on high, to play undaunted among the 
lightnings of heaven, or soar towards the sun. 

He differed, too, from those orators of Great Britain, 
with whom we have become acquainted by their printed 
speeches. He had not the close method, and high polish 
of those of England; nor the exuberant imagery which 



LIFE OF HENRY. 427 

distinguishes those of Ireland. On the contrary, he was 
loose, irregular, desultory — sometimes rough and abrupt 
— careless in connecting the parts of his discourse, but 
grasping whatever he touched with gigantic strength. 
In short, he was the Orator of Nature; and such a 
one as nature might not blush to avow. 

If the reader shall still demand how he acquired 
those wonderful powers of speaking which have been 
assigned to him, we can only answer, with Gray, that 
they were the gift of heaven — the birthright of genius. 

" Thine too, these keys, immortal boy ! 

TMs can unlock the gates of joy ; 

Of horror, that, and thrilling fears, 

Or ope the sacred source of sympathetic tears." 

It has been said of Mr. Henry,* with inimitable 
felicity, that " he was Shakspeare and Garrick 
combined!" Let the reader then imagine the wonderful 
talents of those two men united in the same individual, 
and transferred from scenes of fiction, to the business 
of real life, and he will have formed some conception 
of the eloquence of Patrick Henry. In a word, he was 
one of those perfect prodigies of nature, of whom veiy 
few have been produced since the foundations of the 
earth were laid; and of /lira may it be said, as truly as 
of any one that ever existed, 

" He was a man, take him for all in all, 

We ne'er shall look upon his like again." 

* By Mr. John Randolph, of Roanoke 



THE END. 



APPENDIX. 



Note A. 

IT appears by the Journal of the Hovise of Burgesses, of the 14th Novem- 
ber 1764, (page 38,) that a committee was appointed to draw up the follow- 
ing address, memorial, and remonstrance ; which committee was composed of 
the following persons, to wit : Mr. Attorney (Peyton Randolph), Mr. Richard 
Henry Lee, Mr. Landon Carter, Mr. Wythe, Mr. Edmund Pendleton, Mr. 
Benjamin Harrison, Mr. Cary and Mr. Fleming: to whom, afterward, Mr. 
Bland was added. The address to the king is from the pen of the Attoi-ney.* 

" To the King's Most Excellent Majesty. 

" MOST GRACIOUS SOVEREIGN, 

" We, your Majesty's dutiful and loyal subjects, the Council and Burgesses 
of your ancient colony and dominion of Virginia, now met in general assem- 
bly, beg leave to assure your Majesty of our firm and inviolable attachment to 
your sacred person and government; and as your faithful subjects, here have 
at all times been zealous to demonstrate this truth, by a ready compliance 
with the royal requisitions during the late war, by which a heavy and oppres- 
sive debt of near half a million hath been incurred, so at this time they im- 
plore permission to approach the throne with humble confidence, and to en- 
treat that your Majesty will be graciously pleased to protect your people of 
this colony in the enjoyment of their ancient and inestimable right of being- 
governed by such laws, respecting their internal polity and taxation, as are 
derived from their own consent, with the approbation of their Sovereign or 
his substitute : a right wliich, as men and descendants of Britons, they have 
ever quietly possessed, since, first, by royal permission and encouragement, 
they left the mother kingdom to extend its commerce and dominion. 

" Your Majesty's dutiful subjects of Virginia most humbly and unanimously 
hope, that this invaluable birthright, descended to them from their ancestors, 
and in which they have been protected by your royal predecessors, will not 
be suffered to receive an injury, under the reign of your sacred Majesty, 
already so illustriously distinguished by your gracious attention to the liberties 
of the people. 

" That your majesty-may long live to make nations happy, is the ardent 
prayer of your faithful subjects, the Council and Burgesses of Virginia.'''' 

* On the authority of Mr. Jefferson. 
1 * 



ii APPENDIX. 

The author cannot learn who drew the following memorial ; but from the 
style of the composition, compared with the members of the committee, and 
the distribution of its other labours, he thinks it probable that it was Mr. 
Pendleton ; possibly, Mr. Bland. 

" To the Right Honourable the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, in Parliament 

assembled : 
" The Memorial of the Council and liurgesses of Virginia, noiv met in General 

Assembly, 

" HUMBLY REPRESENTS, 

" That your memorialists hope an application to your lordships, the 'fixed 
and hereditary guardians of British liberty, will not be thought improper at 
this time, when measures are proposed, subversive, as they conceive, of that 
freedom, which all men, especially those who derive their constitution from 
Britain, have a right to enjoy ; and they flatter themselves that your lord- 
ships will not look upon them as objects so unworthy your attention, as to re- 
gard any impropriety in the form or manner of their application, for your 
lordships' protection, of their just and undoubted rights as Britons. 

" It cannot be presumption in your memorialists to call themselves by this 
distinguished name, since they are descended from Britons, who left their na- 
tive country to extend its territory and dominion, and who, happily for Britain, 
and as your memorialists once thought, for themselves too, effected this pur- 
pose. As our ancestors brought with them every right and privilege they 
could with justice claim in their mother kingdom, their descendants may 
conclude, they cannot be deprived of those rights without injustice. 

" Your memorialists conceive it to be a fundamental principle of the British 
constitution, without which freedom can no "where exist, that the people are 
not subject to any taxes but such as are laid on them by their own consent, 
or by those who are legally appointed to represent them : property must be- 
come too precarious for the genius of a free people, which can be taken from 
them at the will of others, who cannotknow what taxes such people can bear, 
or the easiest mode of raising them ; and who are not under that restraint, 
which is the greatest security against a burthensome taxation, when the 
representatives themselves must be affected by every tax imposed on the 
people. 

" Your memorialists are therefore led into an humble confidence, that your 
lordships will not think any reason sufficient to support such a power, in the 
British parliament, where the colonies cannot be represented: a power 
never before constitutionally assumed, and which if they have a right to 
exercise on any occasion, must necessarily establish this melancholy truth, 
that the inhabitants of the colonies are the slaves of Britons from whom they 
are descended ; and from whom they might expect every indulgence that the 
obligations of interest and affection can entitle them to. 

" Your memorialists have been invested with the right of taxing their own 
people from the first establishment of a regular government in the colony, 
and requisitions have been constantly made to them by their sovereigns, on 
all occasions when the assistance of the colony was thought necessary to 



APPENDIX. id 

preserve the British Interest in America ,■ from whence they must conclude, 
they cannot now be deprived of a right they have so long enjoyed, and which 
they have never forfeited. 

" The expenses incurred during the last war, in compliance with the de~ 
mands on this colony by our late and present most gracious sovereigns, have 
involved us in a debt of near half a million, a debt not likely to decrease 
under the continued expense we are at, in providing for the security of the 
people against the incursions of our savage neighbours; at a time when 
the low state of our staple commodity, the total want of specie, and the late 
restrictions upon the trade of the colonies, render the circumstances of the 
people extremely distressful; and which, if taxes are accumulated upon them 
by the British parliament, will make them truly deplorable. 

" Your memorialists cannot suggest to themselves any reason why they 
should not still be trusted with the property of their people, with whose 
abilities, and the least burthensome mode of taxing, (with great deference 
to the superior wisdom of parliament,) they must be best acquainted. 

" Your memorialists hope they shall not be suspected of being actuated on 
this occasion, by any principles but those of the purest loyalty and affection, 
as they always endeavoured by their conduct to demonstrate, that they con- 
sider their connexion with Great Britain, the seat of liberty, as their greatest 
happiness. 

" The duty they owe to themselves and their posterity, lays your memo- 
rialists under the necessity of endeavouring to establish their constitution 
upon its proper foundation ; and they do most humbly pray your lordships to 
take this subject into your consideration, with the attention that is due to the 
well-being of the colonies, on which the prosperity of Great Britain does, in 
a great measure, depend." 

Mr. Wythe was the author of the following remonstrance. " It was done 
" with so much freedom, that, as he told me himself, his colleagues of the 
" committee shrunk from it as wearing the aspect of treason, and smoothed 
" its features to its present form."* 

n To the Honourable the Knights, Citizens, and Burgesses of Great Britain- 
in Parliament assembled : 
" T/ie Remonstrance of the Council and Burgesses of Virginia. 
* It appearing, by the printed votes of the house of commons of Great 
Britain in parliament assembled, that in a committee of the whole house, the 
17th day of March last, it was resolved, that towards defending, protecting, 
and securing the British colonies and plantations in America, it may be proper 
to charge certain stamp duties in the said colonies and plantations ; and it 
being apprehended that the same subject, which was then declined, may be 
resumed and further pursued in a succeeding session, the council and bur- 
gesses of Virginia, met in general assembly, judge it their indispensable duty, 
in a respectful manner, but with decent firmness, to remonstrate against such 

*Mr. Jefferson 



if APPENDIX. 

a measure ; that at least a cession of those rights, which in their opinion musi. 
be infringed by that procedure, may not be inferred from their silence, at so 
important a crisis. 

" They conceive it is essential to British liberty, that laws, imposing taxes 
on the people, ought not.to be made without the consent of representatives- 
chosen by themselves ; who, at the same time that they are acquainted with 
the circumstances of their constituents, sustain a portion of the burthen laid 
on them. The privileges, inherent in the persons who discovered and settled 
these regions, could not be renounced or forfeited by their removal hither, 
not as vagabonds or fugitives, but licensed and encouraged by their prince, 
and animated with a laudable desire of enlarging the British dominion, and 
extending its commerce : on the contrary, it was secured to them and their 
descendants, with all other rights and immunities of British subjects, by a 
royal charter, which hath been invariably recognised and confirmed by his 
Majesty and his predecessors, in their commissions to the several governors, 
granting a power, and prescribing a form of legislation ; according to which, 
laws for the administration of justice, and for the welfare and good govern- 
ment of the colony, have been hitherto enacted by the governor, council, and 
general assembly; and to them, requisitions and applications for supplies have 
been directed by the crown. As an instance of the opinion which former 
sovereigns entertained of these rights and privileges, we beg leave to refer 
to three acts of the general assembly, passed in the 32d year of the reign of 
king Charles II. (one of which is entitled ' An act for raising a public revenue 
for the better support of tfie government of his Majesty's colony of Virginia? im- 
posing several duties for that purpose,) which being thought absolutely 
necessary, were prepared in England, and sent over by their then governor, 
the lord Culpeper, to be passed by the general assembly, with a full power to 
give the royal assent thereto ; and which were accordingly passed, after 
several amendments were made to them here : thus tender was his Majesty 
of the rights of his American subjects; and the remonstrants do not discern 
by what distinction they can be deprived of that sacred birthright and most 
valuable inheritance by their fellow-subjects, nor with what propriety they 
can be taxed or affected in their estates, by the parliament, wherein they are 
not, and indeed cannot, constitutionally, be represented. 

"And if it were proper for the parliament to impose taxes on the colonies 
at all, which the remonstrants take leave to think would be inconsistent with 
the fundamental principles of the constitution, the exercise of that power, at 
this time, would be ruinous to Virginia, who exerted herself in the late war, 
it is feared beyond her strength, insomuch that to redeem the money granted 
for that exigence, her people are taxed for several years to come ; this, with 
the larger expenses incurred for defending the frontiers against the restless 
Indians, who have infested her as much since the peace as before, is so 
grievous, that an increase of he burthen would be intolerable ; especially as 
the people are very greatly distressed already from the scarcity of circulating 
cash amongst them, and from the little value of their staple at the British 
markets. 

" And it is presumed, that adding to that load which the colony now labours 



APPENDIX. vii 

penetrate : we shall aggrandize the new state, whose connexions, views, and 
designs we know not; shall cease to be formidable to our savage neighbours, 
or respectable to our western settlements, at present, and in future. 

While these and many other matters were contemplated by the executive, 
it is natural to suppose, the attempt for separation was discouraged by every 
lawful means ; the chief of which was. displacing such of the field officers of 
militia, in Washington county, as were active partizans for separation, in 
order to preventthe weight of office being cast in the scale against this s'ate: 
to this end a pi-oclamation was issued, declaring the militia law of the last 
session in force, in that county, and appointments of officers were made 
agreeable to it. 

I hope to be excused for expressing a wish, that the assembly, in deliberat- 
ing on this affair, will prefer lenient measures in order to reclaim our erring 
fellow-citizens. Their taxes have run into three years arrear, and, thereby, 
grown to an amount beyond the ability of many to discharge, while the sys- 
tem of our trade has been such, as to render their agriculture unproductive 
of money ; and I cannot but suppose, that if even the warmest supporters of 
separation had seen the mischievous consequences of it, they would have 
retracted ; and condemned that intemperance in their own proceedings, 
which opposition in sentiments is too apt to produce. 

A letter from the countess of Huntingdon and another from Sir James Jay, 
expressing her intentions to attempt the civilization of the Indians, are also 
sent you. It will rest with the assembly to decide upon the means for 
executing this laudable design, that reflects so much honour on that worthy 
lady. 

By a resolution of the last assembly, the auditors were prevented from 
liquidating the claims of the officers and soldiers, after the first day of May 
last. Although the wisdom of such a measure must be admitted, yet several 
cases have come to my knowledge where claims, founded upon the clearest 
principles of justice, have been rejected by reason of that restriction : and 
when I consider that the claimants will be found to consist, in considerable 
degree, of widows, orphans, and those who have been taken prisoners, I am 
persuaded the assembly will think that a rigorous adherence to the fore- 
mentioned resolution is improper, and that justice will be done to the claims 
of those few, whose poverty, ignorance, or other misfortunes, prevented 
earlier applications. 

By Mr. Ross's letter, No. 5, the assembly will observe his demand against 
the state, and that it can be properly discussed only by the legislature. Al- 
though the post at Point of Fork has been long occupied, I cannot discover 
the least trace of title to the ground vested in the public, or any previous 
stipulation with the proprietor for the temporary possession of it. While the 
assembly are considering of a proper satisfaction to the owner for the time 
past, I trust provision will be made to secure a permanent repository for the 
public arms and military stores, at that or some other place most proper for 
the purpose. 

The honourable William Nelson hath resigned his office as a member of 
the council, as appears by his letter, No. 6. 



yiii APPENDIX. 

The honourable Henry Tazewell, esq. has been appointed a judge or' the 
general court in the room of the honourable B. Danbridge, esq. deceased, 
until the assembly shall signify their pleasure. 

The honourable Geo. Muter, esq. has been appointed a judge of the gene- 
ral court in Kentucky, in the room of Cyrus Griffin, esq. who resigned his 
appointment. 

Thomas Massie, esq. having resigned his appointment for opening a road 
on the north western frontier, Joseph Neville, esq. has been appointed in his 
room. 

The report of the commissioners for disposing of the Gosport lands, No. 9, 
"will explain to the assembly their transactions in that business. 

Mr. Rene' Rapicault, of New Orleans, exhibited an account against this 
commonwealth for a considerable sum of money, which appears to be due to 
him. But as it will be found by a reference to his papers, No. 10, that this 
debt, however just, cannot be paid from any fund now existing, it is submitted 
to the legislature to make such provision for its payment, as to them shall 
seem proper. 

The report of the commissioners for extendingthe boundary line between 
Virginia and Pennsylvania, No. 11, will explain the manner in which that 
business has been executed. 

By Mr. Jefferson's letters it appears, that the original sum granted to pro- 
cure a statue of General Washington will be deficient. The further sum 
wanting, together with the reasons for increasing the expense of the work, 
will appear by Mr. Jefferson's correspondence, No. 12. 

The crews of the boats Liberty and Patriot were ordered to be enlisted for 
12 months from August last, unless sooner discharged. This was done in order 
that the assembly might, if they judged proper, determine to discontinue 
them, or if they are retained, make suitable provision for their support : 
hitherto, that has been defrayed out of the contingent fund. But the great 
variety of expenses charged on that fund, make it necessary, in future, to 
provide some other mode of support for them. The assembly will, no doubt, 
observe in the course of their deliberations on the subject of revenue, that 
it is necessary for the executive to commission the officers. The officer com- 
manding one of these boats has detected several persons attemptingto evade 
the payment of duty, and in compliance with the law, as he supposes, took 
bonds for the payment of the penalties imposed for making false entries. But 
it seems there are great difficulties in recovering judgment on these bonds, 
owing to ambiguity in the law respecting the subject. The assembly will 
apply such remedy for this evil as they think proper. 

Application hath been made to the executive, on the subject of paying 
into the continental treasury, warrants for interest due on loan office certifi- 
cates, and other liquidated claims against the continent. And although there 
can be no doubt that payments, made by the treasurer to the continental 
receiver, may include the proportion of warrants specified by congress in their 
act of the 28th of April 1784, yet the receiver, when possessed of the cash, 
although it was unaccompanied by any warrants, does not conceive himself 
justified in parting with any money in exchange for them. So that until the 



APPENDIX. v 

under, will not be more oppressive to her people than destructive of the 
interest of Great Britain: for the plantation trade, confined as it is to the mo- 
ther country, hath been a principal means of multiplying' and enriching her 
inhabitants ; and, if not too much discouraged, may prove an inexhaustible 
source of treasure to the nation. For satisfaction in this point, let the pre- 
sent state of the British fleets and trade be compared with what they were 
before the settlement of the colonies ; and let it be considered, that whilst 
property in land may be acquired on very easy terms, in the vast uncultivated 
territory of North America, the colonists will be mostly, if not wholly, employ- 
ed in agriculture ; whereby the exportation of their commodities to Great 
Britain, and the consumption of manufactures supplied from thence, will 
be daily increasing. But this most desirable connexion between Great Britain 
and her colonies, supported by such a happy intercourse of reciprocal 
benefits as is continually advancing the prosperity of both, must be inter- 
rupted, if the people of the latter, reduced to extreme poverty, should be 
compelled to manufacture those articles they have been hitherto furnished 
with from the former. 

" From these considerations, it is hoped that the honourable house of com- 
mons will not prosecute a measure which those who may suffer under it can- 
not but look upon as fitter for exiles driven from their native country, after 
ignominiously forfeiting her favours and protection, than for the posterity of 
Britons, who have at all times been forward to demonstrate all due reverence 
to the mother kingdom ; and are so instrumental in promoting her glory and 
felicity; and that British patriots will never consent to the exercise of anyan- 
ticonstitutional power, which, even in this remote corner, may be dangerous 
in its example to the interior parts of the British empire, and will certainlv 
be detrimental to its commerce." 



Note B. 

Council Chamber, October 17th, 1785. 

Silt — Since the last session of assembly. I have received sundry acts, reso- 
lutions, and other communications from congress, which I transmit to the 
general assembly, marked No. 1, and which will claim the attention of the 
legislature, according to their nature and importance, respectively. 

The execution of the militia law hath caused much embarrassment to the 
executive. Compelled to name all the field officers throughout the state, and 
possessing sufficient information as to the fitness of individuals for these 
offices in a few counties only, they were constrained to search out proper 
persons, by such means as accident furnished, and by letters addressed to the 
several counties. In some instances, the gentlemen to whom they were ad- 
dressed, refused to give any information. In many others, the answers came 
too late to avail ; the law directing the commissions to issue the first of April. 
In this situation, the business has been conducted : and from a partial know- 
ledge of characters in some counties, and a total ignorance of them in others, 



V* APPENDIX. 

I am sensible many who are worthy of command have been passed by, and 
others less fit for office may have been commissioned. And notwithstanding a 
close attention has been given to this business, many of the counties have not 
yet been officered, for want of the recommendations of captains and subalterns. 

Finding that the arms and ammunition directed to be purchased, could not 
be procured except from beyond the sea, application has been made by me to 
Mr. Jefferson and the Marquis de la Fayette, requesting their assistance to 
Mr. Barclay, (who was commissioned to make the purchase,) in accomplishing 
this important work ; and I have the satisfaction to find, that the affair is in 
such a train as to promise the speedy arrival of these much wanted articles. 
For more full information respecting this transaction, I send you sundry letters 
(No. 2, ) by one of which you will see that our noble friend the Marquis offers 
us his services, if there shah be occasion for them. 

I transmit, herewith, a letter from the honourable Mr. Hardy, covering a 
memorial to congress from sundry inhabitants of Washington county, praying 
the establishment of an independent state, to be bounded as is therein ex- 
pressed. The proposed limits include a vast extent of country in which we 
have numerous and very respectable settlements, which, in their growth, will 
form an invaluable barrier between this country and those who, in the course 
of events, may occupy the vast plains westward of the mountains, some of 
whom may have views incompatible with our safety. Already the militia of 
that part of the state is among the most respectable we have : and by these 
means it is, that the neighbouring Indians are awed into professions of friend- 
ship. But a circumstance has lately happened, which renders the possession 
of that territory, at the present time, indispensable to the peace and safety of 
Virginia: I mean the assumption of sovereign power by the western inhabi- 
tants of North Carolina. If these people, who, without consulting their own 
safety or any other authority known in the American constitution, have 
assumed government, and while unallied to us, and under no engagements to 
pursue the objects of the federal government, they shall be strengthened by 
the accession of so great a part of our country, consequences fatal to our 
repose will probably follow. It is to be observed, that the settlements of this 
new society stretch on to great extent in contact with ours, in Washington 
county, and thereby expose our citizens to the contagion of that example, 
which bids fair to destroy the peace of North Carolina. 

In this state of things it is, that variety of informations have come to me, 
stating that several persons, but especially Col. Arthur Campble, have used 
their utmost endeavours, and with some success, to persuade the citizens in 
that quarter to break off from this commonwealth, and attach themselves to 
the newly assumed government, or erect one, distinct from it. And in order 
to effect this purpose, the equity and authority of the laws have been 
arraigned, the collection of the taxes impeded, and our national character 
impeached. But as 1 send you the several papers I have received on that sub- 
ject, I need not enlarge further than remark, that if this most important part 
of our territory be lopped off, we lose that barrier for which our people have 
long and often fought, that nursery of soldiers from which future armies may 
be levied, and through which it will be almost impossible for our enemies to 



APPENDIX. B 

" Mr. Randolph chargesus with having read the bill three times in the same 
day. I do not remember the fact, nor whether this was enforced on us by 
the urgency of the ravages of Philips, or of the time at which the bill was 
introduced. I have some idea it was at or near the close of the session. The 
journals, which I have not, will ascertain this fact." 

The following proceedings against Josiah Philips and his associates, are 
extracted from the records of the general court ; and are followed by the 
notice of the execution of these men, from the public prints of the day : 
which, it is hoped, will put a final end to this mistake, so little to the honour 
of our revolution. 

" Virginia, to wit : 

" The jurors for the commonwealth, upon their oath present : That 
Josiah Philips, late of the parish of Lynhaven, in the county of Princess 
Ann, labourer, on the ninth day of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand 
seven hundred and seventy-eight, with force and arms, at the parish aforesaid, 
in the county aforesaid, in the highway of the commonwealth there, in and 
upon one James Hargrove, in the peace of God and of the commonwealth, 
then and there beings feloniously did make an assault, and him, the said 
James Hargrove, in bodily fear and danger of his life, in the highway afore- 
said, then and there feloniously did put, and twenty-eight men's felt-hats of 
the value of twenty shillings each, and five pounds of twine of the value of 
five shillings each pound, of the goods and chattels of the said James Har- 
grove, from the person and against the will of the said James Hargrove, in 
the highway aforesaid, then and there feloniously and violently did steal, 
take and cany away, against the peace and dignity of the commonwealth. 

" Witnesses James Hargrove, - 

Benjamin Griffith, J 

William Lovett, f Sworn in court, Oct. 20th, 1778. 

Polly Davis, ?" 

Horatio Davis, and \ " Joux Max." 

John Matthias. -* 

The above indictment is thus endorsed : 

"An indictment against Josiah Philips for robbery," (in Mr. Randolph's 
hand- writing). "A true bill. Wm. Holt, foreman." 

" Virginia. 

" In the General Court, 20th October, 1778. 
" Josiah Philips, late of the parish of Lynhaven, in the county of Princess 
Ann, labourer, who stands indicted for robbery, was led to the bar in custody of 
the keeper of the public gaol, and was thereof arraigned, and pleaded not 
guilty to the indictment, and for his trial put himself upon God and the coun- 
try. Whereupon came a jury, to wit : James Letate, Thomas Stanley, Gilliam 
Booth, Stapleton Crutchfield, John Tankerley, John Draper, Leonard Hen- 
ley, Micajah Chiles, Richard Swepson, William James Lewis, Thomas Cowles 
and Ambrose Raines, who, being elected, tried and sworn the truth of, and 



xu APPENDIX. 

upon premises to speak, and having hearrl the evidence, upon their oath do 
say, that the said Josiah Philips is guilty of the robbery aforesaid in manner 
and form as in the indictment against him is alleged, and that he had 
neither lands or tenements, goods or chattels at the time of committing the 
said robbery, nor at any time since, to their knowledge ; and thereupon he is 
remanded to gaol. 

" October the 27th, 1778. 
" Josiah Philips, late of the parish of Lynhaven in the county of Princess 
Ann, labourer, who stands convicted of robbery, was again led to the bar in 
custody of the keeper of the public gaol, and there pon it being demanded 
of him if any thing he had or knew to say for himself, why the court, here, to 
judgment and execution of and upon the premises, should not proceed, he 
said he had nothing but what he had before said. Therefore, It is considered 
by the court, that he be hanged by the neck until he be dead. 

" October 28th, 1778. 
" John Lowry, John Reizen, and Charles Bowman, for murder, Josiah Phi- 
lips, James Hodges, Henry M'Lalen, and Robert Hodges for robbery, James 
Randolph for horsestealing, Joseph Turner, otherwise called Josiah Blanken- 
ship for burglary, and John Highwarden for grand Weeny, being under sen- 
tence of death by the judgment of the court yesterday passed against them 
for their said offence : It is awarded, that execution of the said sentence be 
severally made and done upon them the said John Lowry, John Reizen, 
Charles Bowman, Josiah Philips, James Hodges, Henry M'Lalen, Robert 
Hodges, James Randolph, Joseph Turner, otherwise called Josiah Blanken- 
ship, and John Highwarden, by the sheriff of York county, on Friday the 
fourth day of December next, between the hours of ten and twelve in the 
forenoon, at the usual place of execution. 
"Copies— Teste, 

" Petton Dhew, C. G. C." 

Extract from Dixon and Hunter's paper of October the 30th, 1778. 
" Williamsburg. — At a general court, begun and held at the capitol the 
10th instant, the following criminals were condemned to suffer death: Charles 
Bowman, from Prince George, for murder; John Lowry, from Bedford, for 
ditto; Josiah Philips, James Hodges, Robert Hodges, and Henry J\F Clalen, from 
Pnncess Jinn, for robbery ; John Highwarden, from Fauquier, for grand 
larceny ; Joseph Turner, alias Josiah Blankenship, from Albemarle, for 
burglary ; and James Randolph, from Culpeper, for horsestealing." 

Extract from Dixon and Hunter's paper of December 4th, 1778. 
" Williamsburg. — This day were executed, at the gallows near this city, 
pursuant to their sentence, the following criminals, viz. Josiah Philips, Henry 
M'Clanen, Robert Hodges, John Reason, and Josiah Blankenship." 



APPENDIX. ir 

assembly shall interpose, by making 1 these warrants receivable at the treasury, 
our citizens will suffer great injury, and be deprived of a facility enjoyed by 
the citizens of the other states. 

The sum of money allowed by the assembly in their resolution of the 13th 
of June 1783, for compiling, printing, and binding the laws, has proved 
inadequate to the purpose ; five hundred pounds having been,expended in 
the printing, and two hundred and fifty engaged to be divided among the 
gentlemen who made the compilation ; so that nothing is left to pay for 
the binding. 

I cannot forbear informing the assembly, that many county courts have 
failed to recommend sheriff's in the months of June and July. In conse- 
quence of this, many of the counties will be without sheriffs, in as much as 
the executive think they have no power to issue commissions in such cases. 
As this evil threatens so many parts of the state with anarchy, I have no 
doubt of the legislature remedying it with all possible despatch. 
I have the honour to be, with great regard, 
Your most obedient, 

Humble servant, 



P. HENRY. 



The Honourable the Speaker of the House of Delegates. 



Note C. 

Judge Tucker, in his edition of Blackstone, having fallen into Mr. Ran- 
dolph's mistake, in regard to the case of Josiah Philips, the following note 
has been furnished to the author by the gentleman who was the chairman of 
the committee. 

" The case of Josiah Philips, I find strangely represented by Judge Tucker 
and Mr. Edmund Randolph, and very negligently vindicated by Mr. Henry. 
That case is personally known to me, because I was of the legislature at the 
time, was one of those consulted by Mr. Henry, and had my share in the 
passage of the bill. I never before saw the observations of those gentlemen, 
which you quote on this case, and will now, therefore, briefly make some 
strictures on them. 

" Judge Tucker, instead of a definition of the functions of bills of attainder, 
has given a just diatribe against their abuse. The occasion and proper office 
of a bill of attainder is this ; when a person charged with a crime, withdraws 
from justice, or resists it by force, either in his own or a foreign country, no 
other means of bringing him to trial or punishment being practicable, a 
special act is passed by the legislature, adapted to the particular case ; this 
prescribes to him a sufficient term to appear and submit to a trial by his 
peers, declares that his refusal to appear shall be taken as a confession of 
guilt, as in the ordinary case of an offender at the bar refusing to plead, and 
pronounces the sentence which would have been rendered on his confession 
9T conviction in a court of law. No doubt that these acts of attainder have been 

2* 



x APPENDIX. 

abused in England as instruments of vengeance by a successful over a defeat- 
ed party. But what institution is insusceptible of abuse, in wicked hands? 

" Again, the judge says, ' the court refused to pass sentence of execution 
pursuant to the directions of the act.' The court could not refuse this, 
because it was never proposed to them, and my authority for this assertion 
shall be presently given. 

" For the perversion of a fact so intimately known to himself, Mr. Randolph 
can be excused only by our indulgence for orators who, pressed by a 
powerful adversary, lose sight, in the ardour of conflict, of the rigorous 
accuracies of fact, and permit their imagination to distort and colour them to 
the views of the moment. He was attorney-general at the time, and told me 
himself, the first time I saw him after the trial of Philips, that when taken 
and delivered up to justice, he had thought it best to make no use of the act 
of attainder, and to take no measure under it ; that he had indicted him, at 
the common law, either for murder or robbery, (I forget which, and whether 
for both,) that he was tried on this indictment in the ordinary way, found 
guilty by the jury, sentenced and executed under the common law ; a 
course which every one approved, because the first object of the act of 
attainder was, to bring him to fair trial. Whether Mr. Randolph was right in 
this information to me, or, when in the debate witli Mr Henry, he represents 
this atrocious offender as sentenced and executed under the act of attainder, 
let the record of the case decide. 

" ' Without being confronted with his accusers and witnesses, without the 
privilege of calling for evidence in his behalf, he was sentenced to death, and 
afterwards actually executed.' I appeal to the universe to produce one 
single instance, from the first establishment of government in this state to 
the present day, where, in a trial at bar, a criminal has been refused confront- 
ation with his accusers and witnesses, or denied the privilege of calling for 
evidence in his behalf. Had it been done in this case, I would have asked of 
the attorney-general, why he proposed or permitted it? But, without having 
seen the record, I will venture, on the character of our courts, to deny that it 
was done. But if Mr. Randolph meant, only, that Philips had not these advan- 
tages, on the passage of the bill of attainder, how idle to charge the legislature 
with omitting to confront the culprit with his witnesses, when he was standing 
out in arms, and in defiance of their authority ; and their sentence was to take 
effect, only on his own refusal to come in and be confronted. We must either, 
therefore, consider this as a mere hyperbolism of imagination, in the heat of 
debate, or, what I should rather believe, a defective statement by the re- 
porter of Mr. Randolph's argument. I suspect this last the rather, because 
this point in the charge of Mr. Randolph, is equally omitted in the defence of 
Mr. Henry. This gentleman must have known that Philips was tried and 
executed under the common law, and yet, according to this report, he rests 
his defence on a justification of the attainder only. But all who knew Mr. 
Henry, know, that when at ease in argument, he was sometimes careless, not 
giving himself the trouble of ransacking either his memory or imagination 
for all the topics of his subject, or his audience that of hearing them. No man 
on earth knew better whgpbxjiad said enough for his hearers. 



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